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DRA'ArMZ-UD ENGRffTED EKPBESSLY FOE LEE & HIS LIEUTENANTS 



B. Treat A: C? Publishers. Kerw York 



THE 

Early Life, Campaigns, and Public Services 

OF 

ROBERT E. LEE; 

WITH A RECORD OP THE CAMPAIGNS AND HEROIC DEEDS 



OF HIS 



Companions inarms, 

" Names the world will not willingly let die," 



BY A DISTINGUISHED SOUTHERN JOURNALIST. 



THIRTY STEEL PORTRAITS. 



Scld hxj Subscription. 






NEW YORK: 

E. B. Treat & Co., Publishers, 654 Broadway. 

J. H. Hummel, New Orleans. J- C. Derby, Augusta, Ga. 

F. Dewikg & Co., San Francisco. W. T. Keener, Chicago. 

P. R. Randall & Co., Port Hope, Ci nada. 

1870. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, 

By E. B. Treat & Co., 

In the office of tiie Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 

U, COPY 

tMMLlEO FROM 

pBfYHIGHT FILES 

"^ JAMUARY, l»il. 



INTRODUCTION. 



k: 



The Author proposes in this present work to assemble the 
most heroic names of the South in the late war, and to give to 
the world biographies of her most illustrious military command- 
ers, including memoirs of all the Army divisions of the Confed- 
eracy from Virginia to the Trans-Mississippi. The plan of the 
work is extensive; the collection is naturally in the shape of a 
galaxy ; but the picture is one, in the common light of the mar- 
tial glory of the South in which all the figures are grouped. 

Authenticity is more difiicult in biography than in history ; 
the domain of anecdote is always doubtful ; and the most we 
can obtain of the lives of particular men comes to us through 
the prejudices and colours of personal nan-ation. Sensible of 
the difficulties and uncertainties which beset his task, the author 
may yet declare that he has executed it with such care that he 
has admitted no statement of fact without ample authority, and 
mentioned not even the slightest incident without the support of 
credible testimony. He has been greatly assisted from the notes 
and memories of surviving actors of the great drama ; he has 
drawn something from various publications contemporary with 
the war — among which he would especially mention the 
Southern Illustrated News, one of the most interesting literary 
souvenirs of the Confederacy ; and he has explored for evidence 
every print and manuscript of the documentary history of the 
Richmond Government. At least, he has not been deficient in 
research, however he may have used his discoveries. 

It has been arranged that the biographies in this volume 
should cover the whole space of the action of the late M^ar. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Including all the great commanders, they contain some name 
dear to each part of the former Confederacy, and thus have an 
interest distributed through all the States of the South. 

The author's design, in short, has been to assemble the most 
remarkable characters of the late war, and to perform a work, 
in which Southern youth may look for models of true greatness ; 
the scholar recognize his fruitful themes ; and those yet living 
on the scenes of the great conflict find many subjects of tendei 
and ennobling interest. 



LIST OF BIOGRAPHIES. 



PAGB 

General Robert Edward Lee 33 

Lieutenant-General " StonewaU " Jackson, 177 

General Peter G. T. Beauregard 231 

General Albert Sidney Johnston 271 

Lieutenant-General Braxton Bragg 284 

Major-Gencral Sterling Price 309 

General Joseph Eggleston Johnston 337 

Lieutenant-General James Longstreet 411 

Lieutenant-General J. E. B. Stuart 421 

Lieutenant-General Ambrose P. Hill 440 

Lieutenant-General Daniel H. Hill 448 

Lieutenant-General Eichard S. EweU .^457 

Lieutenant-General Jubal A Early 463 

Major-General Gustavus W. Smith 482 

Major-GeneralLafayette McLaws 487 

Major-General Cadmus Wilcos 496 

Major-General George E. Pickett 509 

Major-General Charles W. Field 520 

Major-General Robert E. Rodes 524 

Major-General Arnold Elzey 527 

Major-General Sam. Jones 530 

Major-G«neral John B. Gordon 535 

Major-General Fitzhugh Lee 549 

Brigadier-General Henry A. Wise 559 

Brigadier-General Turner Ashby 573 

Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk 587 

Major-General John C. Breckinridge 601 

Major-General Mansfield Lovell 621 

Major-General Earl Van Dorn 627 

Brigadier-General Benjamin McCuUoch 637 

Major-General John II. Morgan , 645 

Lieutenant-General John B. Hood 663 

Lieutenant-General Stephen D. Lee 674 

Major-General Patrick Cleburne 688 

Lieutenant-General Joseph Wheeler 695 

Brigadier-General Fehx K. Zolhcoffer 705 



VI LIST OF BIOGRAPHIES. 

PACK 

Lieutenant-Gonoral Alexander P. Stewart Til 

Major-General Benjamin F. Cheatham 118 

Major-General William B. Bate 722 

Lieutenant-General "Wade Hampton 738 

Lieutenant-General Nathaniel B. Forrest 748 

Lieutenant-General E. Kirby Smith 760 

Lieutenant-General Simon B. Buckner 773 

Major-General John B. Floyd 783 

Lieutenant-General William J. Hardee 808 

.' Lieutenant-General Eichard Taylor 830 

Major-General Dabney H. Maury 837 

Major-General John B. Magrudcr 840 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



FAGB 

Gen. Robert E. Lee Frontispiece. 

The Conflagration of Richmond Vignette Title. 

Lieutenant-General " Stonewall " Jacl^son Ill 

General P. G. T. Beauregard 171 

Lieutenant-General R. S. Ewell 177 

Lieutenant-General A. P. Hill. ... 177 

Lieutenant-General J. Longstreet 177 

General A. S. Johnston 177 

Lieutenant-General J. B. B. Stuart 177 

Major-General Sterling Price 309 

Major-General Fitzhugh Lee 309 

Major-General Earl Van Dorn 309 

Lieutenant-General " Dick " Taylor 309 

Lieutenant-General Joseph "Wheeler 309 

Major-General B. F. Cheatham 309 

Lieutenant-General A. P. Stuart 309 

General Joe E. Johnston 337 

Lieutenant-General Braxton Bragg 663 

Lieutenant-General Kirby Smith 663 

Lieutenant-General N. B. Forrest 663 

Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk 663 

Lieutenant-General J. B. Hood 663 

Lieutenant-General W. J. Hardee 663 

Slajor-General John Morgan 663 

Lieutenant-General Jubal A. Early 463 

Major-General J. C. Breckinridge 463 

Brigadier-General Henry A. "Wise 463 

Lieutenant-General Wade Hampton 463 

Brigadier-General Turner Ashby 463 

Major-General J. B. Gordon 463 

Major-General J. B. Magruder 463 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

Standards of human greatness. — Three classes of great men. — Nature and pecu- 
liarity of genius. — A second order of greatness. — General Lee, as in the third 
class of great men. — Key to his character, 33 

CHAPTER II. - 

The Lee family in Virginia. — "Light-Horse Harry." — Early life of Robert E. 
Lee. — His cadetship at West Point. — His home at Arlington Heights. — Ser- 
vices in the Mexican war. — Commended by Gen. Scott. — Appointed Colonel 
in the First Cavalry. — The John Brown raid. — Colonel Lee and the outlaws. — 
The first act of "rebellion" at Harper's Ferry. — Governor "Wise arms Vir- 
ginia, . 38 

CHAPTER III 

Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States. — Anxiety and hesi- 
tation of Lee at the commencement of hostilities. — His sense of duty. — He 
debates the question of his allegiance to Virginia. — His peculiar school of 
politics. — A reply to a Northern newspaper. — Attitude of Virginia. — A sub- 
lime struggle in Lee's mind. — He goes to Richmond. — Appointed Comman- 
der-in-Chief of the Virginia forces. — His reception by the State Conven- 
tion. — Appearance and carriage of the man. — Military preparations in Vir- 
ginia. — She joins the Southern Confederacy, 48 

CHAPTER IV. 

Geri. Lee sent to Northwestern Virginia. — Description of the theatre of the 
war. — Unfortunate military councils in Richmond. — Proclamation of Gov. 
Letcher. — A caricature of secession. — Disaster of Rich Mountain. Gen. Lee's 
plans thereafter. — He is foiled at Cheat Mountain. — Marches to the Kanawha 
Valley. — Escape of Rosecrans. — Failure of Lee's Campaign. — He is abused 
and twitted in Richmond. — Scoffs of the Richmond " Examiner." — He is 
assigned to " the coavSt service." — Recalled to Richmond, and made " Com- 
manding General." — This post unimportant, and scarcely honourable, 58 

CHAPTER V. 

MoCIellan's march up the Peninsula. — Recollections of the " White House." — 
Battle of Seven Pines. — Review of condition of the Confederacy. — An act 
" to disband the armies of the Confederacy." — Carnival of misrule. — Gen. Lee 
in command of the forces around Richmond. — Nearly two-thirds of his army 
raw conscripts. — His adoption of Gen. Johnston's idea of concentration. — 
Manners of Lee aa a commander. — The great battle joined. — Beaver-Dam 



10 CONTENTS. 

Creek. — Gen. Lee resting at a farm-house. — The glory of Gaines' Mills. — 
Brilliant audacity of Gen. Lee in delivering this battle. — Eetreat of McClel- 
lan. — Frazier's Farm. — Malvern Hill. — The circuit of Lee's victories broken. — 
His official summary of " the Seven Days' battles," . . . G7 

CHAPTER VL 

General Lee the favourite of the populace. — He moves out to the line of the 
Rappahannock. — Cedar Run. — Bold and daring enterprise of General Lee, 
in detaching Jackson to the enemy's rear. — A peculiarity of his campaigns. — 
How he disregarded the maxims of mihtary science. — The battles of Second 
Manassas. — Gen. Lee marches for the fords of the Potomac. — His address at 
Frederick, Maryland. — Jackson detached again. — McClellan finds an im- 
portant paper. — The Thermopyte of " South Mountain Pass." — Battle of 
Sharpsburg. — Gen. Lee obtains a victory^ but is unable to press it. — He 
retires to Virginia. — An authentic statement of Gen. Lee's reasons for the 
Maryland camjiaign. — His constant and characteristic idea of defending 
Richmond by operations at a distance from it. — Congratulations to his 
troops. — Moral results of the campaign of 1862. — Testimonies to Southern 
heroism, 78 

CHAPTER VIL 

General Lee's perilous situation in North Virginia. — His alarming letter to the 
War Office. — The happy fortune of McClellan's removal. — The Battle of 
Fredericksburg. — Gen. Lee's great mistake in not renewing the attack. — 
His own confession of errour. — He detaches nearly a third of his army to 
cover the south side of Richmond. — He writes a severe letter to the Govern- 
ment. — Tlie enemy's fifth grand attempt on Richmond. — Gen. Lee in a des- 
perate extremity. — The Battles of Chancellorsville. — Three victories for the 
Confederates. — The masterpiece of Gen. Lee's military life, . . 93 

CHAPTER VIIL 

Controversy between Gen. Lee and the War Department. — The Secretary 
winces. — Gen. Lee's new campaign of invasion. — How it differed from that 
of 18G2. — Reorganization of the Army of Northern Virginia. — Some remarks 
on its artillery service. — Gen. Lee across the Potomac. — His orders at Cham- 
bersburg, Pa. — His errours with respect to the policy of " retaliation." — His 
conversation with a mill-owner. — A letter from President Davis. — Gen. Lee 
misunderstood and disappointed by the Richmond authorities. — Orders to 
Stuart's cavalry. — The Confederate army blinded in Pennsylvania for want 
of cavalry. — The battle of Gettysburg has the moral effect of a surprise to 
Gen. Lee. — The lost opportunity of the 1st July. — Why Gen. Lee fought 
the next day. — Temper of his army. — He assaults the enemy's centre on the 
3d July. — Recoil of the Confederates. — Gen. Lee cheering and comforting 
his men. — His fearful retreat, and his wonderful success in extricating his 
army, ............ 101 

CHAPTER IX. 

Decline of the fortunes of the Confederacy. — Operations in the autumn of 
18G3. — Gen. Lee's patriotic exhortation to his troops. — His great care for 
them. — Meeting of the chaplains in his army. — Relations between General 
Lee and his troops. — His habits on the battle-field. — Intercourse with his 
men. — Simplicity of his manners. — His feelings towards the public enemy. — 
How he rebuked a Yankee-phobist. — Sufferings of the Confederate troops. — 
Commissary Northrop. — Gen. Lee demands food for his troops. — Touching 



CONTENTS. 11 

address to his half-starved men. — Anecdote of Gen. Lee and his cook. — Per- 
sonal recollections of the great commander. — An English officer's description 
of his person and habits, . . . . . . . . .116 

CHAPTER X. 

Opening of the great campaign of 1864. — Precise account of Gen. Lee's plans. 
— He acts with his accustomed boldness and takes the offensive. — Actions 
of the 5th and 6th May. — General Lee determines to lead a critical assault. — 
Protest of the soldiers. — Grant resorts to manoeuvre. — Spottsylvania Court- 
House. — General Lee again in the extreme front of his men. — A thrilling 
spectacle. — Heroic action of Gordon. — " Gen. Lee to the rear!" — Account of 
the strategy from Spottsylvania Court-House to the vicinity of Richmond. — 
Grant on the old battle-field of McClellan. — His army defeated in ten minides 
at Cold Harbour. — -His losses in one month exceed Lee's whole army. — 
Precise statement of the odds against Gen. Lee. — Reflections on the nature 
and degrees of generalship. — Comparison of the two rival commanders of 
the North and South, 125 

CHAPTER XL 

Gen. Lee's private opinion of the defences of Richmond. — A serious communi- 
cation to the Government, and how it was treated. — Vagaries of President 
Davis. — Gen. Lee decides that the safety of Richmond lies in raising the 
siege, — Expedition of Early across the Potomac. — Anxiety of Gen. Lee. — 
He meditates taking command of the force in Maryland. — Retreat of Early. 
— Gen. Lee next proposes a diversion in the Valley of Virginia. — Failure of 
this operation. — Constant extension of Grant's left around Richmond. — 
Period of despondency in the South. — A letter of Gen. Lee on the question 
of supplies. — He proposes bringing in two or three years' supplies from Eu- 
rope. — Desertion the great evil in the Confederate armies. — Difficulties of 
dealing with it. — Various letters and protests from Gen. Lee on the subject 
of discipline. — An angry comment of President Davis. — Gen. Lee a severe 
disciplinarian, and yet loved by his men. — Anecdote of the General and a 
one-armed soldier. — Skeleton returns of the army. — The popular clamour 
against President Davis. — Gen. Lee's quasi acceptance of the position of 
Commander-in-chief — Nature and peculiar history of this rank in tlie Con- 
federate armies. — Hopeful views of Gen. Lee. — Project of arming the 
negroes. — Growth of new hopes for the Confederacy, . . . 135 

CHAPTER XIL 
Extraordinary cheerfulness of Gen. Lee. — A psychological reflection. — The 
Army of Northern Virginia at a third stage in its history. — Military prepa- 
rations for the evacuation of Richmond. — Protests of the Government. — 
Gen. Lee's last and desperate resolution. — Battle of Five Forks. — Theory 
and results of the action. — Grant's assault in front of Petersburg. — How 
Gen. Lee received it. — His remark to a staff-officer, , . . 149 

CHAPTER XIIL 

The last retreat of Gen. Lee's army. — Two notable pictures. — Gen. Lee con- 
ceives a new prospect of action. — A fatal miscarriage at Amelia Court- 
House. — No food for the army. — Terrible sufferings of the retreat. — General 
despair and misery. — Action at Sailor's Creek. — Condition of the army at 
Appomattox Court-House. — Apparition of the white flag. — Correspondence 
between Generals Lee and Grant. — Authentic and detailed account of their 
interview at McLean's House. — Contradiction of various popular reports 



12 CONTENTS. 

of this event. — General Lee announcing the terms of surrender to his 
officers. — Scenes in the encampments. — G-en. Lee's last address to his troops. 
— His return to Eichmond. — Last tokens of affection and respect for the 
Confederacy, 155 

CHAPTER XIV. 
An interesting interview with Cen. Lee after the surrender. — Remarks upon 
the Federal rule. — Indicted for " treason." — Proceedings stayed on the pro- " 
test of Gen. Grant, — Explanation of Gen. Lee's course with reference to 
amnesty, etc. — Elected President of Washington College. — The true spirit 
of his advice of "submission." — His hopes for the repose and welfare of 
the South, 172 

CHAPTER XV. 

LIEtTT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

Boyhood of Thomas Jonathan Jackson. — His experience at West Point. — His 
studies and habits. — A novel analysis of awkward manners. — Jackson's pro- 
motions in the Mexican war. — His love of fight, — Recollections of " Fool 
Tom Jackson" at Lexington. — A study of his face and character. — His 
prayers for " the Union." — A reflection on Christian influences in America. — 
Jackson appointed a colonel in the Virginia forces. — In command at Harper's 
Ferry.— Constitution of the " Stonewall Brigade."- — Jackson promoted to 
Brigadier. — His action on the field of Manassas. — He turns the enemy's 
flank and breaks his centre. — How much of the victory was due to him. — 
His expedition towards the head waters of the Potomac, . . 177 

CHAPTER XVL 

Description of the Shenandoah Valley. — Its importance as an avenue to 
Washington. — Gen. Jackson retreats from Winchester, and returns and 
fights the battle of Kernstown. — His first and last defeat. — Analysis of the 
enemy's " On-to-Richmond." — Four armies to converge on the Confederate 
capital. — Situation of Gen. Jackson. — Reinforced by Ewell's division. — His 
rapid movement to McDowell, and its designs. — He falls upon the enemy 
at Front Royal. — He chases Banks' army through Winchester and across 
the Potomac. — President Lincoln " sets a trap " for him. — Gen. McDowell's 
remonstrance. — Battles of Cross Keys and Port RepubUc. — Summary of 
the Valley campaign, 190 

CHAPTER XVn. 
Gen. Jackson's share in the " Seven Days' battles " around Richmond. — Shift- 
ing of the scenes of war from the James River to the Rappahannock. — 
Battle of Cedar Run. — Gen. Jackson moves a column between the enemy's 
rear and Washington. — Scenes of the march. — Battle of Groveton. — The 
two days' conflict on Manassas Plains. — Gen. Jackson strikes the enemy at 
Ox Hill. — Results of the campaign so far. — Extraordinary achievement of 
Jackson's command. — He moves against, and captures Harper's Ferry. — 
His part in the battle of Sharpsburg, 199 

CHAPTER XVIIL 

Battle of Fredericksburg. — Gen. Jackson conceives the desperate enterprise 

of driving the enemy into the river. — But he recalls the attack. — Battle of 

Chancellorsville. — A night council under the pines. — The flank-march. — 

How Gen. Hooker was deceived. — Gen. Jackson's last tlispatch. — Fury of 



- CONTENTS. 13 

his attack in the Wilderness. — He is stot from his horse by his own men. — 
Particulars of his wound and sufferings. — His dying moments, — Funeral 
ceremonies in Richmond, 208 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Review of Gen. Jackson's services and character. — True nature of his ambi- 
tion. — The value of glory. — ReUgious element in G-en. Jackson's character. — 
PecuUarity of his religious habits. — Anecdotes. — Want of natural amiabihty. 
— Harshness of manner towards his officers. — His severe idea of war. — 
Destructiveness. — His readiness to forgive. — A touching personal incident. 
— His self-possession as a mark of " genius." — His military faculty not a 
partial one. — European estimates of his career. — A lesson to Northern inso- 
lence and rancour, 229 

CHAPTER XX. 

GEN. PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

Early life of P. Gr. T. Beauregard. — His gallantry and promotions in the Mexican 
War. — Life in Louisiana. — Appointment in the Confederate Army. — Defences 
of Charleston. — Battle of Fort Sumter. — Cen. Beauregard takes command in 
Virginia. — His contempt of "the Yankees." — A grotesque letter. — Popular 
sentiment concerning the war. — Explanation of t2ie sudden disappearance of 
the Union party in the South. — G-en. Beauregard's declaration of the pur- 
poses of the war. — " Beauty and Booty." — A Northern journal on Butler vs. 
Beauregard. — Battle of Manassas. — Comphmentary letter from President 
Davis. — The popularity of G-en. Beauregard alarms the vanity of the Presi- 
dent. — A scandalous quarrel. — Gen. Beauregard's poHtical " card " in the 
Richmond newspapers, . , 231 

CHAPTER XXL 
Gen. Beauregard transferred to command in West Tennessee. — His order 
about " the bells." — He concentrates the Confederate forces at Corinth, — 
Battle of Shiloh. — A " lost opportunity." — Retreat to Tupelo. — He obtains 
a sick furlough. — President Davis deprives him of his command. — Official 
persecution of Gen. Beauregard. — Violent declarations of the President. — 
Gen. Beauregard in retirement. — A private letter on the war, . 249 

CHAPTER XXIL 
Gen. Beauregard in command at Charleston. — Military importance of " the 
City of Secession." — Gen. Beauregard's appeal to the patriotism of the 
Carohnians. — Naval attack on Charleston, 1863. — Gen. Beauregard's depart- 
ment stripped of troops. — Unavailing remonstrance to President Davis. — 
Gen. Gillmore's attempt on Charleston. — Its impotent conclusion. — Fame 
of Gen. Beauregard as an engineer. — He receives the thanks of Congress. 
— Returns to Virginia in 1864. — "Battle of the Falchion and the Buzzard." 
— Gen. Beauregard's plan of campaign before the battle of Drewry's Bluff. 
— Remarkable interview with President Davis. — Connection of Gen. Beau- 
regard with Hood's campaign. — He advises the evacuation of Richmond. — 
Merits of Gen. Beauregard's military career. — Description of his person 
and habits, 257 

CHAPTER XXIIL 

GEN. ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 

Remarkable career of Albert Sidney Johnston. — He eludes the Federal 



14 CONTENTS. . 

authorities in California. — Declares for the Southern Confederacy, and " an- 
nexes " Arizona. — In command of the Western armies. — Picture of a hero. 
— Proclamation on the occupation of Kentucky. — Foolish exaltation of 
Southern hopes. — True situation of Gen. Johnston. — His noble silence in 
the face of clamour. — Letter on the fall of Fort Donelson. — A glance at the 
Western map of the war. — The Confederate line broken and the campaign 
transferred to the southern bank of the Tennessee river. — Battle of Shiloh. 
— Gen. Johnston riding on to victory. — His death-wound. — Lamentations 
in the South. — Tributes to his memory. — A classic inscription, . 271 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

GEN. BRAXTON BRAGG. 

Equivocal reputation of Gen. Bragg in the war. — His services in Mexico. — 
Oflfers his sword to Louisiana. — His command at Pensacola. — Gallant par- 
ticipation in the battle of Shiloli. — His reflections upon Gen. Beauregard. 
— In command of the Western forces. — His Kentucky campaign, as corre- 
spondent to the Virginia campaign of 1862. — Battle of Perrysville. — Gen. 
Bragg's retreat through Cumberland Gap. — Criticisms and recriminations 
touching the campaign, 284 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Battle of Murfreesboro. — Interval of repose. — Retreat to Chattanooga. — Gen. 
Bragg refuses to fight at the instance of the War Department. — Reinforced 
from the Army of Northern Virginia. — Battle of Chickamauga. — A com- 
mentary in the Richmond Whig. — Violent quarrel between Gens. Bragg 
and Longstreet. — The disaster of Missionary Ridge. — Gen. Bragg relieved 
from command and appointed "military adviser " of President Davis. — 
Explanations in a Richmond journal. — Gen. Eragg's last service in the field. 
— Fall of Wilmington. — Gen. Bragg's military career criticised. — His ardent 
Southern patriotism, 295 

CHAPTER XXVL 

MAJ.-GEN. STERLING PRICE. 

Anomaly of the Missouri Campaign. — Early life of Sterhng Price. — Governor 
of Missouri. — His Politics. — Formation of " The Missouri State Guard." — 
Personal appearance of the Commander. — His correspondence with Gen. 
Harney. — Affair at BooneviUe. — Gen. Price reinforced by Gens. McCulloch 
and Pearce. — Battle of Oak Hill or Wilson's Creek. — Gen. Price's move- 
ment upon Lexington. — His success. — Designs against St. Louis. — Why 
they were abandoned. — Retreat of the Patriot Army of Missouri. — The 
State joins the Southern Confederacy. — Gen. Price's Proclamation at 
Neosho, 309 

CHAPTER XXVIL 

Gen. Price at the head of ten thousand men. — McCulloch refuses to cooperate. 
— Admirable retreat of Pric-e's army to Boston Mountains. — Hardihood of 
his troops. — A message from Gen. Halleck. — Gen. Van Dorn appointed Con- 
federate Commander of the Trans-Mississippi. — Battle of Elk Horn. — Its 
importance. — Heroism of Gen. Price on the field. — The Missouri troops 
cross the Mississippi River. — Gen. Price's eloquent address to " the State 
Guard," 321 



CONTENTS. 15 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Career of Gen. Price as a subordinate. — Mortality record of the Missouri Guard. 
— Their participation in the battle of Corinth. — Battle of Helena. — Gen. 
Price's cherished idea of liberating Missouri. — His agreement with Gen. Fre- 
mont for the humanities of the war. — How the enemy violated it. — Gen, 
Price's last attempt to save Missouri. — His final retreat from the State. — Sum- 
mary of the character of Gen. Price. — A defect in his military career. — Gen. 
Price as an exile, 328 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

GEN. JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

Some account of " the first families" of Virginia. — Ancestry of Joseph Eggles- 
ton. — Peter Johnston in the Revolutionary War, and in the State councils of 
Virginia. — Early life of Joseph E. Johnston. — Military tastes of the boy. — 
Services of Lieut. Johnston in the Florida War, — An incident of desperate 
courage, — Services in the Mexican War, — Bon Mot of Gen, Scott. — Johnston 
appointed Quartermaster-General, 337 

CHAPTER XXX, 

Gen, Johnston's resignation from the United States Army. — He visits Mont- 
gomery, — Appointed a full General, — Ordered to Harper's Ferry, — The place 
a cul de sac. — Johnston abandons it. — Reasons for destroying the property of 
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, — How Gen, Johnston amused Patterson. — 
He asks permission to join Beauregard at Manassas Junction. — The march 
to Piedmont, and transportation hence to Manassas, . . . 344 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Gen. Johnston's survey of the field of Manassas. — He indicates the enemy's 
design to flank the Confederate left. — His anxiety about Patterson's move- 
ments. — Plan of attack upon Centrsville. — Why it failed, — Non-arrival of part 
of the Army of the Shenandoah. — Popular misrepresentations of the battle of 
Manassas. — The real plans of action on each side. — How Gen, Jolinston over- 
lapped the flanking movement of the enemy. — His orders to Gen, Bonham to 
attack on Centreville, — The most brilliant opportunity of the day lost. — Gen, 
Johnston's published reasons for not attacking Washington, — This explana- 
tion criticised, — Evidence of McClellan, — The Confederate Army demoralized 
by their victory. — Sequel of Manassas, 352 

CHAPTER XXXII, 

An early council of the Confederate Government, — Unpopularity of Gen, John- 
ston, — He indicates the value of concentration, and proposes an aggressive 
movement against the Potomac. — Overruled by President Davis, — Attempt 
to bring McClellan to battle. — Blockade of the Potomac River, — True theory 
of the battle of Leesburg, or Ball's Bluff, — Gen, Johnston meditates a retreat 
from North Virginia. — A notable Council of War in Richmond. — Gen, John- 
ston's advice overruled by President Davis and Gen, Lee. — Transfer of 
Johnston's Army to Yorktown. — Why he abandoned the Peninsula. — Gen. 
Johnston's share in Jackson's VaUey Campaign. — Battle of Seven Pines. — 
How its results were limited. — Gen. Johnston wounded. — He loses command 
of the Army of Northern Virginia, 361 

CHAPTER XXXIIL 
Gen. Johnston's designs against McClellan. — Why he considered his wound 



■16 CONTENTS. 

fortunate for the Confederacy. — Anecdote of a dinner-party in Richmond. — 
Gen. Johnston's mission to the west. — True nature of his appointment and 
powers. — Rather a Local Secretary of War than a Commanding-General. — 
Interesting conference between Gen. Johnston and Secretary Randolph. — 
He proposes to make one military department of the whole Mississippi Valley. 
— Gen. Johnston's visit to Bragg's Army. — The defence of Vicksburg. — 
Antecedents of Gen. Pemberton. — Detailed account of the correspondence 
and relations between Gens. Johnston and Pemberton. — Gen. Johnston's 
orders twice disobeyed. — His last order, " Hold out," as involving the fate 
of the Confederacy. — Surrender of Vicksburg, and its train of consequences 
to the close of the war, 372 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

Important supplement to the story of Vicksburg. — President Davis' part in the 
disaster. — Radical difference of military views of the President and of Gen. 
Johnston. — The disaster of Missionary Ridge. — Gen. Johnston takes com- 
mand of the Army of Tennessee. — His successful reorganization of it. — Com- 
parison of forces with the enemy. — Gen. Johnston's reasons for withdrawing 
from Dalton. — Sherman's plan of campaign. — The retreat towards Atlanta 
and its incidents. — Gen. Johnston removed from command. — " All hell fol- 
lowed." — A sharp dispatch to Richmond. — Injustice of the government to 
Gen. Johnston, 390 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

The fall of Atlanta and what it involved. — Gen. Johnston foretells Sherman's 
" march to the sea." — The Vcb Victis. — Gen. Johnston restored to command. 
— The North Carolina campaign. — Sherman's stipulations for a surrender. — 
Interference from Washington. — Qualities of Gen. Johnston as a great com- 
mander. — His military peculiarities. — Compared to George Washington. — 
His patriotic and noble silence under censure. — His person and deportment. 
— Literary accomplishments. — His advice to the Southern people on their 
duties after the surrender, 402 

CHAPTER XXXVL 

LIEUT.-GEN. JAMES LONGSTREET. 

His early military services. — Affair of Blackburn's Ford. — Battle of Williams- 
burg. — Gallantry at Gaines' Mills. — Incident of march to Second Manassas. 
— Separate command in South Virginia. — Desperate fighting at Gettys- 
burg. — Sobriquet of " The Bull-dog." — Decisive part in the battle of Chicka- 
mauga. — Quarrel with Gen. Bragg. — Campaign in East Tennessee. — Its 
errours. — A sharp correspondence with the Federal General Foster. — Gon. 
Longstreet rebuked by President Davis. — He is wounded in the Wilder- 
ness. — Military character and aptitude of the man. — Fraternal relations 
with Gen. Lee. — His personal appearance, 411 

CHAPTER XXXVIL 

LIEUT.-GEN, J. E, B. STUART. 

Unique figure of Stuart in the war. — His first cavalry command in the valley 
of Virginia. — Adventure with Capt. Perkins. — Complimented by Gen. 
Johnston. — The action of Dranesville. — " The Ride around McClellan." — 
Adventure at Verdiersville. — Capture of Gen. Pope's coat and papers. — Ex- 
pedition into Pennsylvania. — At Fredericksburg. — At Chancellorsville. — 
His characteristic intercourse with Stonewall Jackson. — Splendid review at 



CONTENTS. 17 

Brandy Station. — The scene changed into bloodiest battle.^G-en. Stuart's 
serious omission in the Gettysburg campaign. — Adventure in the flanking 
movement in North CaroUna. — Hair-breadth escapes of the commander.— 
He is shot down at Yellow Tavern. — His last moments. — Criticism of his 
military character, . . . . . . • . . 421 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

LIEUT.-GEN. AMBROSE P. HILL. 

His record in the United States Avmj. — His part in the battles around Rich- 
mond, 1862. — Conspicuous gallantry at Frazier's Farm. — He repulses six 
assaults in the second battle of Manassas. — Critical service at Sharpsburg. 
— Episode of Boteler's I'ord. — Bristoe Station. — Failure of General Hill's 
health. — He resumes command in front of Petersburg. — Reams' Station. — 
Tragic death of the Commander. — His virtues and gallantry, . 440 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

LIEUT.-GEN. DANIEL H. HILL. 

" Bethel " Hill a curiosity as well as celebrity of the war. — His Revolutionary 
ancestry. — Services in Mexico. — His adventures as a Professor and litera- 
^eur.— Curiosities of " Hill's Algebra."— The affair of Bethel and its exag- 
geration. — Gen. Hill's account of McClellan's retreat from Richmond. — His 
most memorable and heroic service at South Mountain Pass. — Gen. Hill's 
criticism of the battle of Sharpsburg. — Heroic record of a North Carolina 
regiment. — Gen. Hill at Chickamauga. — Removed from command. — His 
literary exploits and eccentricities, ...... 448 

CHAPTER XL. 

LIEUT.-GEN. RICHARD S. EWELL. 

Gen. Ewell as the companion and friend of Stonewall Jackson. — His military 
life anteriour to 1861. — Curious apparition at Fairfax Court-House. — His 
share in Jackson's Valley campaign. — Cross Keys. — Port Republic. — Com- 
pliment to " the Maryland line." — Gen. Ewell wounded at Groveton. — He 
succeeds to Stonewall Jackson's command. — Enacts part of the old drama 
at Winchester. — Services in 1864. — He commands the Department of Hen- 
rico. — Burning of the city of Richmond, ..... 457 

CHAPTER XLI. 

LIEUT.-GEN. JURAL A. EARLY. 

His early life as a soldier and politician. — His "Union" sentiments in the 
Virginia Convention. — Why he became an actor in the war. — Reflections 
upon the Unionists and Secessionists. — Gen. Early's services in 1862. — The 
disaster of Rappahannock Station. — His different commands in the last 
year of the war. — His independent campaign into the Valley and Mary- 
land.— Outrages of the enemy in the Valley. — Gen. Early's advance upon 
Washington City. — Why he did not attack it. — His return to the Valley. — 
Battle of Winchester. — The dramatic story of Cedar Creek — Failure of the 
Valley campaign. — The affair of Waynesboro. — Narrow escape of Gen. 
Early. — Gen. Lee's letter reheving him from command. — Review of the 
operations in the Valley. — Remarkable character of Gen. Early. — The " bad 
old man." — His jokes and peculiarities. — Anecdotes of the camp. — Escape 
of Gen. Early across the Mississippi River. — His choice of exile, . 463 



18 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XLir. 

MAJ.-GEN. GUSTAVUS W. SMITH. 

His family in Kentucky. — He serves in the Mexican war. — Complimentary 
notices from Gen. Scott. — Appointed Street Commissioner of New York. — 
Resigns, visits Kentucky, and accepts a Major-Generalship in the Confede- 
rate service. — His slight record in the war. — His resignation. — Injustice of 
President Davis. — Volunteer services of Gen. Smith in the latter period of 
the war, 482 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

MAJ.-GEN. LAFAYETTE m'lAWS. 

Services in the United States Army. — Appointed a Brigadier-General in the 
Confederate States Army, September, 1861. — Promoted in front of Richmond. 
— His part in the capture of Harper's Ferry. — His glorious and bloody work 
at Fredericksburg. — The East Tennessee campaign, 1863. — Gen. McLaws 
opposes the assault on Knoxville. — Extraordinary reply of Gen. Longstreet. 
— Defective reconnoissances of the enemy's works. — AVhy the assault failed — 
Gen. McLaws court-martialed and triumphantly acquitted. — A remarkable 
peculiarity of his military career, 487 

CHAPTER XLIV. 

MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 

Military services in Mexico.— His gallantry at Chapultepec. — Subsequent ser- 
vices in the United States Army. — His first command in the Confederate 
States Army. — Heroic conduct of his brigade in the battles around Richmond, 
1862. — At Gaines' Mills. — At Frazier's Farm. — An incident on the second 
field of Manassas. — Battle of Salem Church. — Important action of Wilcox's 
Brigade on the second day of Gettysburg. — A narrow chance of victory. — 
Why the supports failed. — Amusing anecdote of Gen. Wilcox and a cliicken- 
thief. — Promoted Major-General. — Record of services in the campaign of 
1864-5. — Heroic story of Fort Gregg. — Last scenes of the surrender, 496 

CHAPTER XLV. 

MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT. 

His gallantry in the Mexican War. — Spirited Action of Capt. Pickett in the " San 
Juan Difficulty." — Position of the State of Virginia in the Sectional Contro- 
versies. — Pickett's Early Appointments in the Confederate States Service. — 
" The Game-Cock Brigade," in Longstreet's Division. — Memorable and 
Heroic Action of Pickett's Division at Gettysburg. — Account of it in the 
Richmond Enquirer. — Gen. Pickett's Expedition on the North Carolina 
Coast. — His Return to Petersburg. — How " The Cockade City" was narrowly 
Saved. — Operations around Petersburg. — Gen. Lee's Compliment to Pickett's 
Men. — The Battle of Five Forks. — The suppressed Official Report of Gen. 
Pickett.— His Last Tribute to his Troops.— Historical Glory of " The Vir- 
ginia Division, . . . .... ... 509 

CHAPTER XLVL 

MAJ.-GEN. CHARLES W. FIELD. 

Services in the United States Army and at West Point. — Commands a Brig- 
ade in the " Seven Days Battles " around Richmond. — Promoted Major- 
General in 1864. — Field's Division restores the Battle in the Wilderness. — 



CONTENTS. 19 

An Unheralded Victory on the Richmond Lines. — Apocrypha of the News- 
papers. — Remarkable and BrilUant Appearance of Field's Division at the 
Surrender. — What the Federal General Meade said of "the Rebels," 520 

CHAPTER XL VII. 

MAJ.-GEN. ROBERT E. RODES. 

Graduates at the Virginia Military Institute. — A civil engineer in Alabama. — 
Elected to a Professor's chair in the Virginia Military Institute. — Com- 
mands a Brigade at Seven Pines. — Gallantry at Chancellorsville. — Ap- 
plauded on the field by Stonewall Jackson. — KUled at Winchester. — A 
touching tribute to his memory, 524 

CHAPTER XLVIIL 

MAJ.-GEN. ARNOLD ELZEY. 

A captain in the United States Army. — His surrender of the Augusta Arsenal 
to the State of Georgia. — " The Blucher of Manassas." — Services in the 
Shenandoah Valley.— Wounded at Gaines' Mills. — His successful command 
of the Department of Richmond, 527 

CHAPTER XLIX. 

MAJ.-GEN. SAM JONES. 

Early military services in the field, at West Point and at Washington. — 
Appointed on Gen. Beauregard's staff. — Commands BartoAv's Brigade. — 
Ordered to Pensacola. — Various services on the Western theatre of the 
War. — Commands the Trans- Alleghany Department. — Relieves Gen. Beau- 
regard at Charleston. — Defence of Tallahassee. — Breadth and variety of 
his military experience, 530 

CHAPTER L. 

MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON. 

Appearance of a new hero in the last year of the war. — Ancestral stock of 
John B. Gordon. — " The Racoon Roughs." — The 6th Alabama at Seven 
Pines. — Personal heroism of Col. Gordon. — At South Mountain. — His 
bloody and picturesque figure on the field of Sharpsburg. — Gen. Gordon as 
an orator. — A soldier's commentary on his eloquence. — His part in the 
Pennsylvania campaign. — A telling speech lo Yankee women. — His coun- 
sels at Gettysburg. — His splendid action in the Wilderness. — A night attack 
upon the enemy. — Gen. Gordon rides through the enemy's lines. — His 
glorious counter-charge at Spottsylvania Court-House. — His part in the 
Valley campaign of 1864. — A novel and interesting version of the battle 
of Cedar Creek. — Gen. Gordon's plan of attack rejected or not executed 
by Gen. Early. — His position and figure in the last scene at Appomattox 
Court-House. — Review of his military services. — A representative of the 
" Young South." — His admirable sentiment and advice since the sur- 
render, 535 

CHAPTER LL 

MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 

A grandson of "Light Horse Harry." — A "wild" youth. — Tricks at West 
Point. — Desperate fights with Indians. — His early services in the Confed- 
eracy. — Chivalrous incident at the Second Manassas. — Services in the 



20 CONTENTS. 

Maryland campaign. — Action of Kelly's Ford. — With Jackson at Chancel- 
lorsville. — Reorganization of the cavalry commands in Virginia. — A com- 
plimentary letter from Gen. Robert E. Lee. — Fitzhugh Lee's division in the 
campaign of 1864-5. — Spottsylvania Court-House. — Yellow Tavern. — 
Reams' Station. — Five Forks. — Conduct of the cavahy on the retreat. — 
Personal recollections of Fitzhugh Lee, ..... 549 

CHAPTER LIL 

BRIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISK. 

An extraordinary excitement in Richmond. — The days of the Secession Con- 
vention. — Wise's idea of " fighting in the Union." — His style of eloquence 
in the Convention. — A remarkable conversation in his hotel. — His rhetori- 
cal bravura. — Short-sighted vanity of the South — Gen. Wise's campaign in 
Western Virginia. — The disaster of Roanoke Island. — Gen. Wise relieved 
from censure. — Death of his son. — An affecting scene. — Interview between 
Gen. Wise and Secretary Randolph. — His command in South Carolina. — 
At Petersburg. -Gen. Wise's fame as a soldier. — His mental gifts. — Marks 
of an afflicted intellect. — His tribute to the private soldiers of the Con- 
federacy, .... ... . . . . 559 

CHAPTER LIIL 

BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY, 

Definition of Chivalry. — Its peculiarities and virtues. — A notable picture of 
chivalric courage. — Turner Ashby's family. — His early life. — He raises a 
regiment of cavalry. — His famous white steed. — Death of his brotlier. — The 
devotion of Ashby. — Habits and appearance of the cavalier. — Purity of his 
life. — Adventure with the enemy at Winchester. — Ashby on tlie retreat 
from Kernstown. — Chased by the enemy. — His horse killed. — Promoted 
a Brigadier. — His limited military education. — A scene around the camp- 
fires. — Dramatic death of Ashby. — Gen. Jackson's tribute to his memory. — 
Honours to the deceased cavalier. — His place in history, , . 573 

CHAPTER LIV. 

LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK. 

Exchange of the Bishopric of Louisiana for a military command. — Reasons 
why Bishop Polk resigned his holy calling for arms. — Reflections on the 
ethics of war. — Bishop Polk a graduate of West Point. — Adventures as a 
Missionary Bishop in Western wilds. — Flatboat-men and gamblers. — Gen. 
Polk wins the victory of Belmont. — A serious accident. — Battle of Shiloh. 
— The battle of Perrysville fought under Gen, Polk's direction. — His adven- 
ture with an Indiana Colonel. — Interesting incident in the battle of Mur- 
freesboro. — Gen. Polk's conduct at Chickamauga. — Censured by Gen. 
Bragg. — Transferred to command in the Southwest. — He frustrates Sher- 
man's expedition. — Returned to the Army of Tennessee. — His death at 
Marietta. — Anecdotes illustrative of his character, . . , 587 

CHAPTER LV. 

MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

His life anteriour to the War. — His career in Congress. — Elected Vice-Presi- 
dent of the United States. — Democratic candidate for the Presidency, 
1860. — The electoral and popular vote of that canvass. — Address to the 
people of Kentucky. — Last service in the United States Senate. — Bold 
speech there against the Administration. — Remarks upon Andrew John- 



CONTENTS. m 

son's resolution. — Excited debate with Senator Baker. — Flight of Mr. 
Breckinridge from Kentucky. — His farewell counsels to her people. — 
Appointed Brigadier-G-eneral. — Gallantry at Shiloh. — His expedition 
against Baton Rouge. — Causes of its failure. — At Murfreesboro. — " The 
Bloody Crossing of Stono River." — At Chickamauga. — Memorial of the 
Western commanders to the Richmond Congress. — Gren. Breckinridge's 
command in Southwestern Virginia. — He is made Secretary of War. — 
Accompanies President Davis in his flight from Richmond. — Last Council of 
the Confederate leaders. — Gen. Breckinridge escapes from the country. — 
Reflections upon his services and character, .... 601 

CHAPTER LVI. 

MAJ.-GF.N. MANSFIELD LOVELL, 

His early hfe and pohtics. — Story of the fall of New Orleans. — Importance of its 
line of water-defence. — Gen. Lovell's hands tied by red tape at Richmond. — Not 
to blame for the disaster. — His gallant services after the loss of New Orleans. 
— President Davis refuses to give him a command under Johnston, 621 

CHAPTER LVII. 

MAJ.-GEN. EARL VAN DORN. 

His capture of Federal troops in Texas at the beginning of the war. — Temporary 
command in North Virginia. — Assigned to the Trans-Mississippi. — Battle of 
Elk Horn. — Correspondence with Gen. Curtis on civilized warfare. — Gen. Van 
Dorn crosses the Mississippi River. — The Department of Louisiana. — Heroism 
of the first defence of Vicksburg. — Battle of Corinth. — Gen. Van Dorn re- 
moved from command. — His reflections on the sentence. — His command of 
calvary. — Destroys Grant's depot of supplies at Holly Springs. — Dies by the 
hand of private violence. — His genius as a commander, . . . 627 

CHAPTER LVIIL 

BRIG.-GEN. BENJAMIN m'cULLOCH. 

Early romance of his life. — His fame as a hunter and pioneer. — Service in the 
Texan war of independence. — Battle of San Jacinto. — The Mexican War. — 
Adventure at Buena Vista. — Appointed United States Marshal for Texas. — 
His life in Washington City. — His appearance and manners at the capital. — 
Relations to President Buchanan. — Seizes the property and arms of. the 
United States at San Antonio. — Surrender of Gen. Twiggs. — McCuUoch's 
command in the Indian Territory. — His part in Price's Missouri campaign. — 
Defects of his mihtary character. — Killed in the battle of Elk Horn, 637 

CHAPTER LIX. 

IIAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 

Morgan raises a company in the Mexican war. — " The Captain." — His natural 
aptitude for arms. — His personal appearance. — His escape from Kentucky. — 
A trick on the enemy. — His early services on Green River, — How he cap- 
tured six Federals. — Adventure with a telegraph operator. — His first expe- 
dition into Kentucky. — A new engine of war. — Freaks of the telegraph, — 
The affair of HartsviUe. — His expedition through Kentucky, Indiana and 
Ohio. — Its captures and ravages. — Gen. Morgan a prisoner. — Cruelty and 
indignities of the enemy. — His escape from the Ohio penitentiary. — Detailed 
account of his escape and travel through the enemy's lines. — An ovation at 
Richmond, — His new command on the Virginia border. — Disfavour and 



22 CONTENTS. 

prejudice of the Government. — Gen. Morgan's last expedition into Kentucky. 
— Its defeat. — Affair of Mt. Sterling. — Cruel slanders of Gen. Morgan. — At- 
tempts an expedition to Bull Gap, East Tennessee. — Surprised and killed by 
the enemy. — Different versions of his death. — A brief review of his cam- 
paigns, 645 

CHAPTER LX. 

LIEUT.-GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. 

Peculiar glory of the soldier-State of Texas. — Early recollections in the war 
of " Hood and his Texans." — Hood's cavalry command on the Peninsula. — 
Commands the Texas brigade. — The peculiar Lewes of Gaines' Mills. — Gen. 
Hood in the battle of Sharpsburg. — " The two Little Giant Brigades." — 
Gen. Lee's opinion of Texas soldiers " in tight places." — Gen. Hood wound- 
ed at Gettysburg and at Chickamauga. — Commands a corps in Johnston's 
army. — Remarkable letter to the War Department. — Appointed Command- 
ing General of the Army of Tennessee. — An ascent in rank, but a fall in 
reputation. — A list of errours in the Georgia-Tennessee campaign. — Failure 
of that campaign. — Magnanimous confession of Gen, Hood. — His chivalry. — 
His admirable military figure, . . ... . . 663 

CHAPTER LXL 

LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 

His ancestry in South Carolina. — His service in the United States Army. — 
Aide to Gen. Beauregard at Fort Sumter. — Commands Virginia Cavalry. — 
Assigned to Artillery. — Gallant and important action of his batteries at 
Second Manassas. — Anecdote illustrating the spirit of that day. — Gen. Lee 
in command at Vicksburg. — Extraordinary compliment from President 
Davis. — Gen. Lee repulses Sherman at Chickasaw Bayou. — Battle of Baker's 
Creek. — Wonderful escape of Gen. Lee in the retreat. — Siege of Vicksburg. 
— Action of the 22d June, 1863. — Heroism of Texan soldiers. — Gen. Lee 
commands the cavalry in Mississippi. — His operations against Sherman. — 
He commands the Southwestern Department. — Raids of the enemy. — 
Assignment of Gen. Lee to Hood's Army. — The Tennessee campaign. — 
Gen. Lee protects the retreat. — Reflections upon his extraordinary 
career, ........... 674 

CHAPTER LXIL 

MAJ.-GEN. PATRICK E. CLEBURNE. 

His first military experience as a private in the British Army. — Campaign, 
under Hardee, in Missouri. — His part in the Kentucky campaign. — Gallant- 
ry at Murfrecsboro. — Sjjlendid conduct of his division at Chickamauga. — 
Affairs with the enemy at Tunnel Hill and Ringgold. — Gen. Cleburne's 
last order in the battle of Franklin. — Effect of his death on the army. — His 
qualites as a commander. — His honour. — Anecdotes of the camp. — The 
society or order of " Comrades of the Southern Cross." — The battle-flag of 
Cleburne's division, . . ... ... . 688 

CHAPTER LXIIL 

LIEUT.-GEN. JOSEPH WHEELER. 

Services in the United States Army. — His command of cavalry under Gen. 
Bragg. — Important service at Murfreesboro. — Desperate encounter with 
the enemy at Shelbyville. — Personal gallantry of Gen. Wheeler. — His 



CONTENTS. 23 

famous raid into Tennessee. — Summary of services in the Western Army. 
— Operations of Wheeler's cavalry on Sherman's march through Georgia. — 
Gen. Wheeler's farewell address to liis troops, — What he accomplished in 
the war. — His career and genius, ...... 695 

CHAPTER LXV. 

BRIG.-GEN. FEIilS K, ZOLLICOFFER. 

His early life as a politician and member of Congress. — Appointed a Brigadier- 
General in the Confederate States Army. — His leniency to the people of 
East Tennessee. — At Cumberland Gap. — Letter to Governor MagoflBn. — 
The "wild-cat" stampede. — Killed in the battle of Mill Springs. — How the 
enemy insulted his corpse. — His character. — Extraordinary public regret 
of his death, 705 

CHAPTER LXVI. 

LIEUT.-GEN. ALEXANDER P. STEWART. 

Fame as a scholar and instructor. — His different Professorships. — First ser- 
vices in the Confederate States Army. — Various commands in the West. — 
Memorable action of his division at New Hope Church. — A compliment 
from Gen. Johnston. — A review of his character. — A tribute from one of 
the most distinguished scholars of the South, .... 711 

CHAPTER LXVII. 

MAJ.-GEN. BENJAMIN F. CHEATHAM. 

His military services in Mexico. — His popularity at home. — Commands in the 
West. — Adventure in the battle of Belmont. — Record of his division in the 
Army of Tennessee. — Anecdote, illustrating his fighting qualities, . 718 

CHAPTER LXVIII. 

MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 

Enlists as a private in the Mexican War. — His distinction there. — Public hon- 
ours in Tennessee. — Colonel of the 2d Tennessee Regiment. — Curious plan 
to capture the Federal fleet in the Potomac. — His extraordinary and suc- 
cessful appeal to the Tennessee soldiers to re-enhst for the war. — Sent to 
the army of Gen. A. S. Johnston. — A compliment to his command. — In the 
battle of Shiloh. — Promotion of Gen. Bate. — Action of Hoover's Gap. — An 
admirable sentiment to a political convention. — At Chickamauga. — Re- 
organization of the Army of Tennessee. — Record of Bate's division. — Its 
part in Hood's campaign. — How its line was broken in the battle of Nash- 
ville. — Explanations of this disaster, — At Bentonville. — The surrender. — 
Gen. Bate a wanderer. — Returns to Tennessee. — His political sentiments 
after the war, 722 

CHAPTER LXIX. 

LIEUT.-GEN. WADE HAMPTON. 

An Englishman's remark on the military aptitude of the Southern planter. — 
Wealth and culture of Wade Hampton. — The Hampton Legion. — Its mettle 
tried at Manassas. — Gen. Hampton in the campaign of 1862. — Detached 
enterprises against the enemy. — In the battle of Brandy Station. — Wounded 



24 CONTENTS. 

at Gettysburg. — In the campaign of 1864. — Fights with Sheridan. — Trevil- 
lian Station. — Sappony Church. — Hampton's "beef-raid." — He joins Gen. 
Beauregard's command. — Operations against Sherman. — A severe com- 
mentary on the enemy's atrocities. — PecuUar compliments of the Northern 
Radicals to Gen. Hampton since the war. — His admirable speeches and 
advice to his countrymen, 738 

CHAPTER LXX. 

LIEUT. -GEN. NATHANIEL B. FORREST. 

Peculiarities of the Western theatre of the war. — Forrest, " the Great Cav- 
alryman of the West." — Nathaniel B. Forrest, his parentage and early life. 
— Enters the army as a private. — His escape from Fort Donelson. — His 
expedition into West Tennessee. — Pursuit and capture of Streight's com- 
mand in Georgia. — The field of Chickamauga. — Gen. Forrest leaves the 
Army of Tennessee. — His career in Mississippi. — Victory of Okolona. — The 
dramatic story of Fort Pillow. — Victory of Tishamingo Creek. — Gen. For- 
rest rejoins the Army of Tennessee.— His last affair with the enemy at 
Selma. — The wonder and romance of his career. — A remarkable theory of 
cavalry service. — His extraordinary prowess in the war, and deeds of 
blood, 748 

CHAPTER LXXI. 

LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 

Early military life of E. Kirby Smith. — His first conspicuous service in the 
Confederate States army at Manassas. His campaign with Bragg in Ken- 
tucky. — Great success of Gen. Smith's part of the campaign. — Put in com- 
mand of the Trans-Missi?sippi Department. — Extraordinary spirit of this 
part of the Confederacy. — Peculiar military difficulties of the department. — 
The Red River campaign. — Why Gen. Smilh did not pursue Banks. — Atl'airs 
with the Federal General Steele. — Judgment and prudence of Gen. Smith 
in deciding an alternative of campaigns. — Injustice of the popular censure on 
this subject. — Results and fruits of the Red River campaign. — Prejudice in 
Richmond against the Trans-Mississippi States. — What they accomplished in 
the war. — Gen. Smith's resolution to hold out after Lee's surrender. — His 
troops demoralized, clamourous, and excited against their commander. — Ter- 
rible scenes of disorder. — History of the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi. 

■ Review of Gen. Smith's military character. — Some explanations of unjust 
popular accusations, 7G0 

CHAPTER LXXII. 

LIEUT.-GEN. SIMON B. EUCKNER. 

Services and promotions in the United States Army. — His connection with 
the " State Guard " of Kentucky. — Memorandum of a conference with 
George B. McClellan, concerning Kentucky neutrality. — He refuses military 
service with either of the belligerents. — His conversion to the service of the 
Confederate States. — Commissioned a Brigadier-General. — Captured at Fort 
Donelson. — Running the gauntlet of Northern mobs. — A cutting remark to 
a Federal officer. — Released, and takes command in Hardee's corps. — His 
disagreement with Gen. Bragg concerning the field of Perryville. — In com- 
mand at Mobile. — Transferred to East Tennessee. — Important assistance in 
the Chickamauga campaign. — Another disagreement between Bragg and his 
officers. — Gen. Buckner transferred to the 'Trans-Mississippi, and commands 
the District of Louisiana. — Included in Gen. E. Kirby Smith's surrender. — 
A peculiarity of Gen. Buckner's character. — His high moral courage, 773 



CONTENTS. 25 

CHAPTER LXXIII. 

MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 

Family record of the Floyds. — Adventures of George Eogers Clarke. — John 
Floyd, the elder. — His services as Governor of Virginia. — Early life of young 
Floyd. — A planter in Arkansas. — His political career in Virginia. — A member 
of President Buchanan's Cabinet. — His political views and services in the 
Cabinet. — Private Diary of Secretary Floyd. — Extraordinary statement 
of President Buchanan, justifying the secession of the Southern States, in , 
a certain event. — Private vievs^s of Washington politicians. — How Secretary ' 
Floyd came to resign his position in the Cabinet. — Clamour and recrimina- 
tions of the Eepublican party. — Floyd appointed a Brigadier-General in the 
Confederate States service. — His campaign in Western Virginia. — Battles of 
Fort Donelson. — He is relieved from command. — Appointed by Virginia a 
Major-General of State troops. — Operations on the head-waters of the Big 
Sandy. — His death. — A great and generous character assailed by partisan 
influences, 783 

CHAPTER LXXIV. 

LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 

His mihtary life before the War of 1861. — His command in the Trans-Missis- 
sippi. — Oidered to Bowling Green, Kentucky. — At Shiloh. — His views and 
advice in the Kentucky Campaign. — Promoted to a Lieutenant-General, — 
The first day of Murfreesboro. — Reinforcements wanting at a critical time. — 
Gen. Hardee as an organizer of troops. — Religious incidents of his camp. — 
He joins Johnston's army in Mississippi. — Return to the Army of Tennes- 
see. — The battle of Missionary Ridge. — Fought against the advice of Gen. 
Hardee. — He takes charge of Bragg's army at Dalton. — Why he declined 
permanent command of it. — The Atlanta campaign. — Protest against the 
appointment of Gen. Hood as Commander in Chief. — Hardee's desperate 
fight at Jonesboro. — He is assigned to the command of the Department of 
South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. — Condition of this Department at the 
time of Sherman's " march to the sea." — The evacuation of Savannah. — 
Campaign of the Carolinas. — Hardee's fight at Averysboro. — Battle of Ben- 
tonville. — The general loses a young son in the last affair of arms. — A tribute 
from Arkansas troops to Gen. Hardee. — Estimate of his military record. — 
His virtues as a soldier and a citizen, 808 

CHAPTER LXXV. 

LIEUT.-GEN. RICHARD TAYLOR. 

Peculiar advantages of Gen. " Dick " Taylor in the war. — His gallantry and 
critical service at Port Republic. — Transferred to West Louisiana. — Interest 
of his military Mfe directed to New Orleans. — Operations of 1863 in the La- 
fourche country. — His part in the Red River campaign. — Violent quarrel 
with Gen. E. Kirby Smith. — The merits of this controversy canvassed. — 
President Davis sustains Gen. Taylor, and gives him increased rank and com- 
mand. — His disposition to insubordination. — Destruction of his property by 
the enemy. — A Vermont soldier's account of the exploit, . . 830 



CHAPTER LXXVI. 

MAJ.-GEN. DABNEY H. MAURY. 

Ancestral stock of Dabney H. Maury. — Services in the Mexican War. — Ac- 
cepts the cause of the Southern Confederacy. — Various services in the West^ 



26 CONTENTS. 

ern armies. — His gallant defence of Mobile. — The Army of Mobile the last 
organized body of troops in the Confederacy, 837 

CHAPTER LXXVII. 

MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. MAGRUDER. 

Brilliant service of Magruder's batteries in the Mexican War. — Interesting inci- 
dent at Contreras. — He makes the tour of Europe. — Offers his sword to Vir- 
ginia. — Battle of Bethel. — Important and critical services on the Peninsula. 
— How he deceived McClellan, and defied his " grand army." — Another des- 
perate situation in front of Richmond. — Transferred to Texas. — Recapture of 
Galveston. — Affair of Sabine Pass. — Address to the people of Texas. — The 
enemy compared to "the ravenous cat." — Gen. Magruder resists a surrender 
— His exile in Mexico. — The tribute of a companion-in-arms to his accom- 
plishments and virtues, 840 

CHAPTER LXXVIII. 

SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

Reflections on the close of the war. — The true glory of history. — " The posses- 
sion forever," — The duties and hopes of the South. — Two distinct grounds of 
faith in the future. — The people of the South to make their own history and 
Pantheon, — Their dead heroes, 848 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 



CIIAPTEE I. 



Standards of human greatness. — Three classes of great men. — Nature and peculiarity 
of genius. — A second order of greatness. — General Lee, as in the third class of 
great men. — Key to his character. 

Human greatness is neither a mystery nor an accident. There 
is a class of minds, envious or ignorant, which insist that the 
greatness of men is without reference to any well-settled orders of 
merit ; that it is often the fruit of chance ; that it is subject to no 
well-defined rule or analysis ; and that fame is a lawless and irreg- 
ular thing. We dissent from this view, and disclaim any share in 
its self-complacency. We believe that human greaJtness, as inter- 
preted by intelligent fame among mankind, is regulated by well- 
known laws, is subject to a clear analysis, and is capable of a 
precise definition. Especially in modern civilized society, with its 
multitude of concerns, its intricate organization, and its constant 
and characteristic multiplication of restraints and difficulties upon 
the self-assertion of the individual, it is impossible for a man to 
obtain anything like permanent fame without the possession of 
some substantial and well-defined merit, or some extraordinary 
quality. To be sure, in the experience of every people there are 
hasty judgments of the mob, fits of fickle admiration, short tri- 
umphs of charlatanism, ephemera of the newspaper. But equally 
certain it is that no man succeeds to real and lasting flime, and 
obtains a permanent place in the regard of his fellows, unless he 
has some visible mark upon him, some true excellence, and only 
after a severe test and a precise measure have been applied to those 
qualities in which he asserts an extraordinary character. That 
character may be one of great virtues or of brilliant vices ; we do 
not discuss the moral question here ; we only insist that the man 

3 



34 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

designated for historical reputation, and the fee of fame, must 
have something that really distinguishes him from his fellows. 
Affectation and pretension can never accomplish a permanent 
name. There is no such thing as being great by accident, and 
enjoying fame without good reason therefor. Weak men may 
sometimes make undue noise, and occupy for a little while emi- 
nences to which they do not belong; but the sober judgment of 
mankind soon passes upon the pretender, and reduces him to his 
proper position. It is the certain and inevitable law of history. 
Mind, like water, will find its level. We may appear to live in a 
great confusion of names, amid disordered currents of popular 
fame, in storms of unjust and turbulent opinion ; but after all, 
we may be sure that there is an ultimate order, that the reputations 
of men will be finally assigned them by exact rules, and that 
those only will enter the temple of History who have real titles, 
by extraordinary virtues or by extraordinary vices, to its places. 

That excellence which men entitle Greatness, so far from being 
any peculiar occasion of confusion of mind, may be readily sub- 
jected to analysis, and the classes of fame be separated, with refer- 
ence to the qualities which obtain it. In the first place, we have 
a distinction among mankind, and a title to fame in the rare pos- 
session of genius. The subtile excellence of mind that bears this 
name is difficult of definition. But its characteristics are easily 
recognized and unfailing. We call him the man of genius, who, 
b}'' a quality or gift superiour to reason, reaches the truth, seizes upon 
it without the intermediate process by which the ordinary man 
arrives at it ; obtains conclusions by the flashes of intuition ; per- 
ceives things by a subtile sense in which truth is discovered with- 
out the formula of an argument, and almost without the conscious- 
ness of a mental operation. It is for the metaphysician to nttempt 
the definition of this rare quality of mind, and determine the rela- 
tions between reason and intuition. But from what we have said 
of the characteristics of genius we may readily recognize it: the 
rapidity of its action, the brilliancy of its execution, the intel- 
lectual certainty of all its plans, the directness of its methods, and 
the decisive air of its manners are peculiar, and cannot escape 
notice. There is another peculiarity of genius. It is that its par- 
ticular employment, the department in which it displays itself, 
is deteuEiined by accident ; that it is universal in its application. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 85 

and capable of excelling in all professions of life, in all arts and 
sciences, in every domain of mind. Genius contains in itself 
all excellences, and is bound to show itself in some direction or 
other. The man who is by genius a great General would also 
have been, had such directions been given to his life, a great 
poet, or a great mathematician, or a great politician — an ornament 
of the State, or a light of science. Genius is bound to assert itself, 
and circumstances will determine its direction. A certain reviewer 
in the pages of a British periodical has declared that the Great 
Napoleon was only the product of a peculiar French society, the fruit 
of the exceptional times in which he lived ; and that had he been an 
Englishman, and served in the British army, he M^ould probably 
never have been known but as a brilliant colonel of artillery. 
But this view is superficial and silly. The scholarly and cultivated 
historian has quite a different judgment from that of the writer in 
the shallow pages of a magazine. The universality of genius is 
illimitable, its declarations of itself irrepressible; and we are to 
believe that Napoleon, if he had chosen, instead of the profession 
of arms, the peaceful pursuits of science and philosophy, would still 
have been the great man, would have imprinted the age with 
great discoveries, and would have taken rank with Bacon, New- 
ton, and other luminaries in the world of letters and pure intellect. 

There is a second order of greatness, lower than that of genius, 
but often mistaken for it in the opinions of the vulgar. It is some 
special excellence which comes from some faculty in excess, some 
inordinate development of a single power or property of mind. 
This is indeed the most usual type of human greatness, occurring 
far more frequently than that founded on genius, or that proceed- 
ing, as we shall hereafter notice, from a certain rare and full com- 
bination of virtues and powers in a single mind. The largest class 
of those whom the world calls great represent single ideas, are 
specialties and have a well-defined vocation, taken out of which 
they are no longer remarkable. It seems here indeed that nature 
has introduced a certain law of economy in its distribution of 
powers, giving to us special missions, and raising up for the accom- 
plishment of every particular idea the man for the occasion. 

A third class of great men in history, not remarkable for genius, 
and not famous for any special adaptation, rest their reputation on 
a certain combination, a just mixture of qualities, a perfect balance 



36 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

of character at once rare and admirable. This type of greatness 
may not be a very brilliant one, but it is certainly not a low one. 
It is seldom that we perceive in one person the full, rotund devel- 
opment of mind, a perfect harmony of character, the precise adjust- 
ment of the virtues. We may hesitate in a certain sense in desig- 
nating such a one as a great man. The very fulness and harmony 
of such a character precludes brilliancy ; and it is remarkable that 
this full and well-balanced order of mind is generally wrought 
from a sense of duty — the only motive indeed which embraces all 
the powers and dispositions of the mind — and partakes but little 
of ambition, which usually cultivates partial developments of char- 
acter, and distorts the picture. The excellence and charm of the 
character we describe is its nice mixture. The man who is suc- 
cessful and famous from a happy combination of qualities may not 
attract the mysteries of hero-worship ; he will lack the vigorous 
selfishness that puts strong imprints on the pages of history; he 
will not realize that fierce and romantic theory of greatness which 
contends that the great man must be cruel, unscrupulous, mon- 
strous, sacrificing all means to one end ; he may be more the 
object of admiration than affection ; but after all, he is the great 
man and not the agreeable commonplace. Apart from any charm 
in the moral aspects of this character, there is a steady intellectual 
glow in the contemplation of the man well-developed, and tem- 
pered in all his parts, deficient in nothing, with all his powers and 
dispositions knit in harmony, presenting a single majestic picture 
of human nature. The brilliant light may startle us for a while ; 
but we shall not the less regard the full-orbed symbol of greatness. 
The meteor which streams across the vision, the comet which 
writes its red hieroglyph on the blue page of heaven, may be taken 
as symbols of certain human fame ; but are there not others more 
quiet, and yet as majestic, in the full round orb of day as it shines 
on the meridian, or blazes through the broken storm on the hori- 
zon, amid clouds 

" At sunset, stranded, firing far 
Their dull distress-guns I " 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 37 

To the third class of great men we have no hesitation in assign- 
ing the subject of this memoir — Robert E. Lee. "We shall recog- 
nize the illustrious Virginian as one of those great men who had 
but little to dazzle the world, and yet a strong and permanent 
claim on the sober admiration of mankind. We may not have to 
recite the brilliant story of genius; but we shall have much to 
record that is beautiful and admirable in a career that drew the 
eyes of the world, and traversed a domain of fame as broad as 
Christendom. In brief, we shall find in this man fruitful and 
peculiar studies ; the almost perfect sum of the qualities of a great 
military commander; an excellent balance between judgment and 
execution ; a spirit not remarkable for the creation of events, of but 
little originality, yet always equal to whatever events fortune might 
marshal ; a character fairly developed in every direction, well- 
rounded and Washington-like ; an intellect of great power, but 
with few gifts of learning ; a circle of virtues ; the store of a well- 
regulated life, to which there was one unfailing golden key — A 

SENSE OF DUTY. 



^?i 



GENEKAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 



CHAPTER II. 

The Lee family in Virginia. — "Light-Horse Harry." — Early life of Robert E. Lee. — • 
His cadetship at West Point. — His home at Arlington Heiglits. — Services in the 
Mexican war. — Commended by General Scott. — Appointed Colonel in the First 
Cavalry. — The John Brown raid. — Colonel Lee and the outlaws. — ^The first act of 
"rebellion" at Harper's Ferry. — Governor Wise arms Virginia. 

Robert Edward Lee belonged to a family conspicuous for 
two centuries, not only in the local annals of Virginia, but on the 
ample pages of the colonial and revolutionary periods of America. 
The genealogy of the Lee family in Virginia is traced to 1666. 
About that time Richard Lee, the early ancestor of the Confederate 
chieftain, made large settlements in that part of Virginia situated 
between the Rappahannock and the Potomac rivers, and designated 
as the Northern Neck. He was faithful to the loyal sentiments of 
those times ; he acted, for some time, as secretary to Sir William 
Berkeley, the Governor of Virginia; and on the restoration of 
Charles II., he exercised no little influence in restoring the colony 
to its allegiance, although in Cromwell's time Virginia had taken a 
step towards independence, and had obtained a quasi recognition 
in a treaty signed by the Protector's own hand. He shared in the 
ceremonies of crowning the restored monarch King of England, 
Scotland, Ireland, and Virginia; from which came the legend on 
the ancient arms of the last commonwealth : En dai Virginia 
quariam. 

A grandson of this Richard Lee, Thomas Lee, was one of the 
first of the leading men of the colony of Virginia; was, for some 
time, president of the council ; was known for the ardour of his 
enterprises in the exploration of the then wild country of the 
Ohio River ; and, although he preceded the Revolution by a gene- 
ration, he appeared to have had a foresight of that remarkable 
event, and is reported to have designated, with comparative accu- 
racy, the present site of "Washington City as the seat of the new 
government. He died in 1750. 

Thomas Lee left six sons, three of whom obtained historical 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 39 

distinction. Eichard Henry Lee was a member of the first Conti- 
nental Congress; and his was the first voice to move a resolution, 
on the 7th June, 1776, "that these united colonies are, and of 
right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are 
absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all 
political connection between them and the State of Great Britain 
is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." His brother, Francis 
Lightfoot Lee, signed with him the Declaration of Independence. 
Arthur Lee, another brother, was distinguished as a scholar and 
diplomatist. 

The descent of Gen. R. E. Lee, of Confederate times, is traced 
from Henry Lee, a brother of Thomas. This ancestor mar- 
ried a Miss Bland ; his third son, named Henry, was united to a 
Miss Grimes ; and from this marriage came the father of Gen. 
Lee — the famous "Light-Horse Harry," of the period of the 
Eevolution. The immediate ancestor of General Lee achieved, 
perhaps, the most brilliant name in the Lee family. He was a 
brave, elastic officer, referred to by all the historians of the Revo- 
lution as an excellent cavalry officer; he commanded a legion 
noted for its daring exploits ; he distinguished himself by the cap- 
ture of a British fort at Paul us Hook ; and he served, with con- 
stant brilliant effects, under Greene in the Carolinas, who declared 
that he was "under obligations to Lee which he never could 
cancel," and, with his own hand, wrote to him : " No man in the 
progress of the campaign had equal merit with yourself," He 
was an especial and intimate friend of Washington ; he obtained 
the regard of his government, a brilliant share of popular applause, 
a vote of thanks from Congress, and a medal on which his services 
were designated in the following beautiful and classical words : 
"Notwithstanding rivers and intrenchments, he, with a small band, 
conquered the foe by warlike skill and prowess, and Jirmlj/ hound 
hy his humanity those who had been conquered hy his arms^ It is 
curious that this description of glory the rigid pen of history may 
almost exactly repeat in epitomizing the deeds of the son. 

It will thus be seen that the name of Robert E. Lee comes 
before the country with a very abundant historical association, and 
a rare measure of the glory of the Revolution. Two of his 
grand-uncles were signers of the Declaration of Independence ; 
one of them, Richard Henry Lee, was the orator of the Revolu- 



40 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

tion, and among the most beautiful characters of his times, deeply 
sympathizing with Washington and Peyton, Randolph and Pen- 
dleton, and Nicholas and Henry, in their religious character and 
sentiments ; while the immediate ancestor, glorious " Light-Horse 
Harry," won a brilliant reputation in arms, and obtained an ines- 
timable recognition in the " love and thanks " of Washington 
himself. 

After the battle of Eutaw Springs, Henry Lee returned to Vir- 
ginia, and married a daughter of Philip Ludwell Lee, of Stafford. 
His political career was short, but very honourable. He served two 
terms in Congress, and in 1791 was made Governor of Virginia. 
His first wife having died, he contracted a second marriage with 
Anne, daughter of Charles Carter, of Shirley. The second son 
was Robert Edward Lee, born in 1806, at the ifamily seat of Strat- 
ford. In 1818 Henry Lee died, while visiting a member of Gren. 
Greene's family, in Georgia, and his remains were committed to a 
grave on the lands once owned by his beloved commander and 
companion in arms. 

There is a common curiosity to discover, even in the earliest 
periods of the lives of great men, some indication or augury of 
their future greatness, some infantile anticipation of the future. 
This disposition of mind is often silly and absurd, and not unfre- 
quently carried to the point of extravagance.* There is little 

* On one of the pages of " The Lost Cause " (the author's history of the war), a 
place was found for the following brief remark : 

" There has been a curious Yankee affectation in the war. It is to discover in the 
infancy or early childhood of all their heroes something indicative of their future 
greatness, or of the designs of Providence towards them. Thus their famous cavalry 
commanders rode wild horses as soon as they could sit astraddle ; and their greatest 
commander in the latter periods of the war — Ulysses S. Grant — when an infant de- 
sired a pistol to be fired by his ear, and exclaimed ' Fick again ! ' thus giving a very 
early indication of his warlike disposition." 

A Northern journal questioned the authenticity of this anecdote of Grant, chal- 
lenged the whole statement, and charged that the author of " The Lost Cause " had 
had recourse to very small and pitiful inventions to make a theme of ridicule. The 
author is not only able to reply to the challenge for authorities in the instances 
referred to above, but the subject has expanded under investigation, and he finds 
that he has really fallen upon a topic of large and characteristic interest in the his- 
tory of the war, that has a philosophical bearing as well as a ludicrous aspect. 

The world is not yet done with the curiosities of Yankee conceit. It has not been 
content to date the fame of its heroes in the war from the events of the war, but 
has ascribed to them infantile phenomena, and invented a modern augury of greatness, 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 41 

indeed to reward such curiosity in the early life of Lee. He grew 
up in the quiet of home, without showing any uncommon charac- 
teristics of mind; and the only thing remarked about him as a 
boy was that he was disposed to be quiet and sedate. His associa- 

which would be extremely fanciful, if it was not supremely absurd and disgusting. 
The conceit is part of that Yankee vanity which is constantly asserting its excellence 
even in the matter of babies. The genius of Grant is traced to his cradle ; Sheri- 
dan was enfant terrible ; and the Yankee heroes of the war, before their adult achieve- 
ments, were the most remarkable children of their generation. 

Now, as to Grant's early pricking of the ears at warUke sounds (something after 
the fashion of Jupiter's sons of earth) we have the story from his father, recited as 
follows in a recent Yankee book, characteristically entitled " Our Great Cap- 
tains : " 

" Grant relates that when Ulysses was but two years old, he took him in his 
arms and carried him through the village on some public occasion, and a young man 
wished to try the effect of the report of a pistol on him. Mr. Grant consented, 
though, as he said, ' the child had never seen a gun or pistol in his life.' The hand 
of the baby was accordingly put on the lock, and pressed there quietly, until the 
pistol was discharged with a loud report. The httle fellow exliibited no alarm, nei- 
ther winking nor dodging, but presently pushed the pistol away, saying, 'Fick it 
again I Fick it again ! ' " 

In another part of his book, the biographer of Grant tells us : — 

"A still more characteristic incident is related of him by his father. "When 
Ulysses was twelve years of age, his father wanted several sticks of hewn timber 
from the forest, and sent him with the team to draw them to the village, telling him 
that men would be there with handspikes to help them on to the wagon. The boy 
went with the team, but on arriving at his destination the men were not there, and 
after some little delay they still did not appear. He had been sent for the timber, 
however, and he had no intention of going home without it. Looking about, he 
observed at a little distance a tree which had fallen over, and was leaning against 
another, its trunk forming an inclined plane. This, he reasoned, would enable him 
to get the timber into his wagon ; accordingly he took out his horses, and hitching 
them to the logs, drew them up to the foot of the fallen tree, and backing his wagon 
to the side of the inchned plane, he pushed and drew the timber, piece after piece, 
up the inclined plane, and shoved it into the wagon, and with liis load secured, drove 
home triumphantly." 

The writer recollects to have seen recently in an English newspaper a similar 
story of two wise elephants, at Ceylon, who, employed in raising logs to construct a 
house, hit upon the device of getting the heaviest logs to their place by pushing them 
up two other logs inclined to the ground. This is certainly something remarkable in 
the life of an elephant ; but we scarcely think it so wonderful an hitellectual display 
as to be mentioned in the biography of a modern genius and hero ! 

Of Shciidan we are treated to the following youthful reminiscences in the pages 
of " Our Ch-eat Captains" indicating his early equine prochvity: — 

"An incident of his early childhood renders his subsequent successes as a 
cavalry officer less surprising. He was but five years of age when some older boys, 



42 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

tion in the first families of Virginia naturally gave him, even in 
the period of boyhood, a cultivated appearance, easy manners, and 
a prompt perception of social proprieties. 

In the year 1825, at the age of eighteen, Lee entered "West Point 
as a cadet from Virginia. He completed the course of studies in 
the usual four years, without a single mark of demerit against him, 
and standing number two in a class of forty -six, and leading, among 
others, Joseph E. Johnston, 0. McK. Mitchell, Albert G. Blanchard 
and Theophilus H. Holmes. At the expiration of his cadet terra, 
he was immediately selected for service in the corps of topo- 
graphical engineers, receiving his appointment as brevet second 

in a spirit of mischief, placed him on the back of a spirited horse grazing in a field 
near his father's house, and started the horse off at a run ; but to their terrour, the 
horse becoming frightened, leaped the fences, and proceeded at a breakneck pace 
along the highway, the little urchin cUnging fast to his back. The boys supposed 
that the child would inevitably be killed, but after a run of many mQes the horse, 
completely exhausted and covered with foam, stopped at the stable of a hotel where 
its owner was accustomed to put up, the child still on its back. The horse was re- 
cognized, and though the child's statement that he had come so many miles on its 
back, without saddle or bridle, was at first doubted, it was soon confirmed, and the 
villagers began to question him. 'Who learned you to ride?' asked one. 'No- 
body,' said the boy. ' Did no one teach you how to sit on a horse ? ' inquired an- 
other. ' Oh, yes ! Bill Seymour told me to hold on with my knees, and I did.' 
'Weren't you scared? ' asked the villager. 'Nary a bit,' said the boy. 'I wanted 
to go on further, but the horse wouldn't go.' 'Aren't you sore?' continued his 
questioner. 'Kinder,' said little Phil; 'but I'll feel better to-morrow, and then I'll 
ride back home.' " 

We might make no end of the wonders in the infantile hves of Northern generals, 
recorded in books, scattered through the newspapers, and handed down to tradition. 
But we will choose but one more extract — that from a Philadelphia journal relating a 
most wonderful phenomenon in the birth of the Yankee " Infant Napoleon : " 

" A son was born to our professor, and the event scarcely transpired before the 
father announced it to his delighted pupils. Scales were instantly brought from a 
neighbouring grocer. Into one dish he placed the babe, into the other all the weights. 
The beam was raised, but the child moved not 1 The father emptying his pockets, 
threw in his watch, coin, keys, knives, and lancet, but to no purpose — the little hero 
could not be moved. He conquered everything 1 And at last, while they were adding 
more and more weight, the cord supporting the heam gave way, and broke rather than Oie 
giant infant would yield/ The father was Dr. MeClellan, and the son — General 
McClellau ! our young commander on the Potomac. The country wiU see a prophetic 
charm in this incident." 

So, a prophetic charm of some sort or other, appears in the early Uves of all 
modern great Yankees — some of them so wonderful as to bo recorded on a cross 
between biography and mythology. The augur or soothsayer attends on the birth 
of each. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 43 

lieutenant in Julj, 1829. He was employed for several years on 
the coast defences ; and in 1835 served as assistant astronomer for 
the demarcation of the boundary line between the States of Ohio 
and Michigan. 

In 1832, Lieutenant Lee married Miss Custis, the daughter and 
heiress of George W. Parke Custis, the adopted son of General 
"Washington, and, through her, became proprietor of Arlington 
House and the White House on the banks of the Pamunkey. The 
former place was situated on the heights of the Potomac, overlook- 
ing Washington City, and for many years was an object of attrac- 
tion to visitors, on account of its historical associations, and the 
Washington relics collected and jealously preserved by the patriotic 
father of Mrs. Lee. The house was surrounded by a grove of stately 
trees and underwood, except in front, where a verdant sloping 
ground descended into a valley, spreading away in beautiful and 
broad expanse to the river. To the south, north and west, the 
grounds were beautifully diversified into hill and valley, and richly 
stored with oak, willow and maple. The view from the height was 
a charming picture. Washington, Georgetown, and the interme- 
diate Potomac, were all in the foreground, with mountain high and 
valley deep making af background of picturesque foliage. This 
place, so charming to the eye, and so full of historical association, 
was to obtain additional interest as the first camping-ground of the 
" Grand Army " of the North, that a generation later was to invade 
Virginia, and make its headquarters in the home of Washington ! 

In 1836, Lee was promoted to a first-lieutenancy ; and in 1838 he 
was made captain. When the Mexican War broke out, he was 
placed on the staff of Brig.-Gen. Wool as Chief Engineer, and he 
retained that post throughout the whole campaign under Gen. 
Scott. At the battle of Cerro Gordo, April 18, 18-17, he was 
brevetted major for gallantry. In the August following he again 
won a brevet rank by his meritorious conduct at Contreras and 
Cherubusco. In the assault on Chapultepec, September 13, 1847, 
he was wounded, and received therefor the brevet promotion of 
lieutenant-colonel. 

Lee's service in Mexico is remarkable for the extraordinary 
attention which the young officer obtained from Gen. Scott. He 
appears to have been the special favourite of the veteran com- 
mander, and there is hardly a single dispatch, in which his 



44 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

name is not honourably mentioned. At Cerro Gordo, Gen. Scott 
wrote : " I am compelled to make special mention of Capt. E. E. 
Lee, Engineer. This officer greatly distinguished himself at the 
siege of Vera Cruz; was again indefatigable during these opera- 
tions iu reconnoissances, as daring as laborious, and of the utmost 
value. Nor was he less conspicuous in planning batteries, and in 
conducting columns to their stations, under the heavy fire of the 
enemy." At Chapultepec, he again highly compliments Capt. 
Lee '' as distinguished for felicitous execution as for science and 
daring." And, furthermore, he says: "Capt. Lee, so constantly 
distinguished, also bore important orders from me, until he fainted 
from a wound and the loss of two nights' sleep at the batteries." 

At the close of the Mexican War, Lee was appointed a member 
of the Board ot Engineers, and remained as such until 1850. On 
the 1st September, 1852, he was appointed to succeed Capt. Brew- 
erton as Superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point. 
In 1855, Col. Lee having been promoted to the Cavalr}'^ arm of the 
service, and thereby incapacitated by law from exercising superin- 
tendence at the Military Academy, was succeeded by Maj. J. G. 
Barnard. The regiment to which Lee was now appointed was the 
Second Cavalry, a new regiment organized under the act of March 
S, 1855, its Colonel being Albert Sidney Johnston, afterwards a 
General in the service of the Southern Confederacy. This regi- 
ment was much employed in the Indian wars on the prairies of 
Texas. On the 16th March, 1861, Lee obtained his last promotion 
in the service of the United States; being appointed Colonel in the 
Eirst Cavalry. He was to hold this position but a few weeks. 

In the autumn of 1859 occurred the memorable raid of John Brown 
in Virginia; an event which placed the name of Col. Lee before 
the public in some very dramatic circumstances. The outlaw had 
already obtained considerable notoriety in the troubles in Kansas ; 
and among all the men employed to harass and hunt down the pro- 
slavery settlers in that Territory, he was the most merciless and 
cold-blooded. His murderous deeds there have since been para- 
phrased by Northern writers as " the heroic exploits of the stern 
old man." His career of crime did not end with the supremacy 
of the Free-State party in Kansas ; but having done his work there, 
he entered upon the monstrous design of making an irruption into 
Virginia to excite and to aid an insurrection of the slaves against 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 45 

their masters, and to extend the murderous and incendiary pro- 
gramme to the furthest limits of the South. His passion was to 
become the instrument of abolishing slavery, by the strong arm, 
throughout the slaveholding States. His plan was larger than was 
generally supposed. After his arrest he declared that he had been 
promised aid from Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, North and South 
Carolina, and Canada. With an army, then, consisting of blacks 
and whites, he designed to make the Blue Eidge his base ; and, 
advancing southward, extending as he went his conquests and his 
power, he expected to penetrate into Northern Georgia and form a 
junction there with a column, which was to proceed in the same 
triumphant manner from Beaufort, South Carolina, along a route 
which had been already defined. 

The first step of this extensive design was on the frontier of 
Virginia. The outlaw had purchased two hundred Sharpe's car- 
bines, two hundred revolver pistols, and about one thousand pikes, 
with which to arm the slaves. These arms he had collected and 
deposited in the vicinity of Harper's Ferry. When the plot was 
ripe for execution, a little before midnight on Sunday evening, the 
16th October, 1859, he, with sixteen white and five negro con- 
federates, rushed across the Potomac to Harper's Ferry, and there 
seized the armory, arsenal, and rifle factory belonging to the United 
States. When the inhabitants awoke in the morning, they found, 
greatly to their terrour and surprise, that these places, with the town 
itself, were all in possession of John Brown's adventurous force. 

The slaves in the adjoining county did not rise as Brown 
had expected, and made no response to his signal of attack. The 
news spread rapidly over the country ; public rumor greatly exag- 
gerated the strength of the outlaw's force ; and large numbers of 
volunteers from Virginia and Maryland were soon hastening to the 
scene of action. The action of the Grovernment at Washington was 
prompt, and President Buchanan immediately sent forward a 
detachment of marines under Col. Eobert E. Lee, who was 
accompanied by his aide, Lieut. J. E. B. Stuart. Col. Lee 
and his command arrived at the Ferry in the night of the 17th. 
The news was too late in reaching Richmond to enable the Gover- 
nor of the State, Henry A. Wise, to reach the ground with State 
forces ; but a large number of militiamen and volunteers had collected 
at the Ferry when Col. Lee arrived, and were meditating an attack 



4G GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

upon Brown and his party, who had now gathered in the engine-house, 
and debating the policy of storming the refuge, and running the 
hazard of having the prisoners massacred, whom the outlaw held in 
the building. This weak hesitation was terminated by Col. Lee's 
appearance. His manner was cool and severe. He determined 
that the next morning the engine-house should be stormed by the 
marines, unless, before that time, the enemy surrendered. During 
the night, volunteer parties of the hot-blooded Virginians, jealous 
of the honour of their State, and ashamed of their former hesitation, 
besought Col. Lee to let them have the privilege of storming the 
engine-house. All such propositions were, however, refused. As 
daylight dawned, troops were stationed around the engine-house to 
cut off all hope of escape, and the United States marines were 
divided into two squads for storming purposes. 

At seven o'clock in the morning Brown was summoned to sur- 
render, under a regular flag of truce, and was promised protection 
from violence, and a trial according to law. He replied with the 
absurd proposition : " That his party should be permitted to march 
out with their men and arms, taking their prisoners with them ; 
that they should proceed unpursued to the second toll-gate, when 
they would free their prisoners, the soldiers then being permitted 
to pursue them, and they would fight, if they could not escape." 
Col. Lee ordered the attack. The marines advanced by two lines 
quickly on each side of the door, battered it down, and in a moment 
terminated the affair; but one volley being fired, which killed one 
of their number, while Brown was brought to the ground by a 
blow on the skull from Lieut. Stuart's sword. The whole band 
of insurgents, with the exception of two who had escaped, were 
either killed or captured, John Brown himself was wounded 
almost mortally, but was to survive for the gallows. In the mean- 
time, however, his party had murdered five individuals, four of 
them unarmed citizens, and had wounded nine others. Col. Lee 
had terminated a threatening revolt with singular nerve and deci- 
sion ; and having done his duty, at once withdrew from the scene 
of excitement, turned his prisoners over to the United States Dis- 
trict-Attorney (Mr. Robert Quid), and quietly returned to Washing- 
ton to resume his cavalry command. 

The blood shed at Harper's Ferry was the first drops of the 
crimson deluge that was to overwhelm the South, and whose tides 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 47 

were to flow across the breadth of a continent. It was no acci- 
dental event. It was not the isolated act of a desperate fanatic. 
The Abolitionists of the North gave significance to the John 
Brown expedition by their enthusiastic and permanent approbation 
of its object, and spread alarm and apprehension through the 
South by their displays of honour to his memory. After his death 
on the gallows, prayers were offered up for him as if he were a 
martyr, and even blasphemy was employed to consecrate his 
memory. It is curious, indeed, that the party that afterwards made 
war upon the South carried the memory of this man in the van of 
their armies, and have ever since honoured him as a saint or a 
martyr in a holy cause. 

The event of Harper's Ferry was not without its lesson to Vir- 
ginia. Governor Wise was one of those who saw the impending 
conflict. With the ostensible design of providing against a rescue 
of the criminals from the Charlestown jail, he encouraged the 
organization of military companies throughout the State, and used 
every legitimate means to excite a war spirit among the people. 
Companies were received at Charlestown, and after a short stay 
there, were sent away to make room for others, in order that the 
war spirit might be disseminated throughout the State. The atten- 
tion of the Legislature was called to the state of the Commonwealth, 
and initiatory steps were taken to put Virginia upon a war footing. 
All over the State, military organizations sprang up, and serious 
preparations were made for war. It was to come sooner than any 
man of that day expected. 



4S GENERAL EGBERT EDWARD LEE. 



CHAPTER in. 

Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States. — Anxiety and hesitation of 
Lee at the commencement of hostilities. — His sense of duty. — He debates the 
question of his allegiance to Virginia. — His peculiar school of politics. — A rep]y 
to a Northern newspaper. — Attitude of Virginia. — A sublime struggle in Lee's 
mind. — He goes to Richmond. — Appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Virginia 
forces. — His reception by the State Convention. — Appearance and carriage of 
the man. — Mihtary preparations in Virginia. — She joins the Southern Confederacy. 

The election of Abraham Lincoln by the votes of the Republican 
or Anti-Slavery party, President of the United States, alarmed 
the South. When he assumed ofi&ce, March 4, 1861, the States of 
South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, 
and Texas, had withdrawn from the Union ; and what were loosely 
called the Border Slave States, were agitated by the discussion of 
instant and dread necessities. 

In the first commotions which threatened war, Robert E. Lee, 
as a member of the United States Army and a native Virginian, 
gave evidence of the most painful anxiety. His mind was torn by 
conflicting emotions. He was ardently attached to the Federal 
service ; he had spent more than thirty years in it ; he had obtained 
in it the best honours of his life. He was unskilled in politics, but he 
had a sentimental attachment to the Union and its traditions. He 
saw with alarm and anxiety the indications of a movement to dis- 
solve the old Federal compact, and array against it a new league of 
States. He was sincerely opposed to such a movement ; he saw 
no necessity for it ; and in the doubts and anxieties of his mind, 
he could determine no other course than to await the action 
of his native State, Virginia, and to adopt in an overruling sense 
of duty^ whatever she should decide. In the subsequent develop- 
ment of events, when Lee had decided to stand by his mother State^ 
when she drew the sword, a letter from his wife referred to the 
terrible trials of his mind in reaching this conclusion. She 
wrote : " My husband has wept tears of blood over this terrible 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 49 

war; but he must, as a man of honour and a Virginian, share 
the destiny of his State, which has solemnly pronounced for 
independence." 

Lee's early hesitation at the commencement of hostilities was 
simply the doubt of duty. Ambition, the bribes of office, per- 
sonal interest, did not enter into a mind pure, conscientious, 
introspective, anxious only to discover the line of duty, and then 
prompt and resolute to follow it. As long as Virginia wavered, 
Lee stood irresolute. While he maintained an attentive neutrality 
and waited for events, the Federal authorities at Washington used 
every effort to commit him to the service of the Union, and did not 
hesitate to urge his choice by the most splendid bribes. Mr. Blair, 
senior, has freely admitted that at this time he was deputed by 
President Lincoln to sound Lee, and to suggest to him his early 
appointment to the chief command of the Federal forces, in the 
event of his declaration for the Union. Those who thus 
approached Lee to tempt his ambition little knew the man. They 
did not have the key to those quiet meditations which made him 
reticent and kept him undecided. His only thought was duty. 
There is a very noble letter written several years before the war 
by Lee, which exhibits the man and indicates his characteristic 
idea of the conduct of life. He wrote to his son, who was at West 
Point in 1852, the following lesson : 

" In regard to duty, let me in conclusion of this hasty letter, 
inform you that nearly a hundred years ago there was a day of 
remarkable gloom and darkness — still known as ' the dark day ' 
— a day when the light of the sun was slowly extinguished, as if 
by an eclipse. The Legislature of Connecticut was in session, and 
as its members saw the unexpected and unaccountable darkness 
coming on, they shared in the general awe and terrour. It was 
supposed by many that the last day — the day of judgment — had 
come. Some one, in the consternation of the hour, moved an 
adjournment. Then there arose an old Puritan legislator, Deven- 
port, of Stamford, and said, that if the last day had come, he 
desired to be found at his place doing his duty, and, therefore, 
moved that candles be brought in, so that the house could pro- 
ceed with its duty. There was quietness in that man's mind, the 
quietness of heavenly wisdom and inflexible willingness to obey 
present duty. Duty^ then, is the subUmest word in our language. 

4 



50 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

Do your duty in all things like the old Puritan. You cannot do 
more, you should never wish to do less." 

Such was the lesson which Gen. Lee was now to observe and 
exemplify in his own life. Assailed by importunities, tempted by 
the highest military office in the gift of the Federal Government, 
solicited by the voices of friendship, he remained silently waiting 
for the call of duty. He was prompt to respond to it. On the 
17th April, 1861, Virginia seceded from the Union; on the 19th 
Lee knew it; on the 20th he dissolved his connection with the 
Federal army, and sent the following letter to Gen. Scott : 

Ahlington, Va., AprQ 20, 1861. 

General: — Since my interview with you on the 18th instant, 
I have felt that I ought not longer to retain my commission in the 
army. I therefore tender my resignation, which I request you 
will recommend for acceptance. It would have been presented at 
once, but for the struggle it has cost me to separate myself from a 
service to which I have devoted all the best years of my life and 
all the ability I possessed. 

During the whole of that time — more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury — I have experienced nothing but kindness from my superiours, 
and the most cordial friendship from my comrades. To no one. 
General, have I been as much indebted as to yourself for uniform 
kindness and consideration, and it has always been my ardent 
desire to merit your approbation. I shall carry to the grave the 
most grateful recollections of your kind consideration, and your 
name and fame will always be dear to me. 

Save in defence of my native State, I never desire to draw my 
sword. Be pleased to accept my most earnest wishes for the con- 
tinuance of your happiness and prosperity, and believe me, most 
truly yours, 

E. E. Lee. 

Lieut.-Gen. Winpield Scott, 

Commanding United States Army. 

A copy of the preceding letter was inclosed in the following 
letter to a relative, which more completely discovers the state of 
Gen. Lee's mind: 



GENERAL EGBERT EDWARD LEE. 51 

Arlington, Va., April 20, 1861. 
My Dear Sister : — I am grieved at my inability to see you 
. . . I have been waiting " for a more convenient season," 
which has brought to many before me deep and lasting regret. 
Now we are in a state of war which will yield to nothing. The 
whole South is in a state of revolution, into which Virginia, after 
a long struggle, has been drawn, and iliough I recognize no necessity 
for this state of things, and would have forborne and pleaded to the 
end for redress of grievances, real or supposed, yet in my own 
person I had to meet the question, whether I should take part against 
my native State. With all my devotion to the Union, and the feel- 
ing of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been 
» able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, 
my children, my home. I have, therefore, resigned my commis- 
sion in the army, and save in defence of my native State, with the 
sincere hope that my poor services may never be needed, I hope I 
may never be called on to draw my sword. 

I know you will blame me, but you must think as kindly of me 
as you can, and believe that I have endeavoured to do what I thought 
right. To show you the feeling and struggle it has cost me, I send 
a copy of my letter to Gen. Scott, which accompanied my letter of 
resignation. I have no time for more. 

. . . . May God guard and protect you and yours, and 
shower upon you every blessing, is the prayer of your devoted 
brother, 

E. E. Lee. 

A Northern publication has remarked on the letter quoted above, 
that it exhibited a narrowness of mind, and a very imperfect patriot- 
ism, in that Gen. Lee was not able to sacrifice for the good of the 
country his affections for Virginia, and pleaded a partiality for his 
State against his duty to the general government. 

But this commentary is as unjust as it is plausible — an instance 
of that shallow fallacy, the petitio principii. It begs the whole 
question, and proceeds on the supposition that there was no fed- 
eration of the American States, that the government at Washington 
represented a national unit, and that any hesitation between its 
authority and that of the State was the hesitation between loyalty 
and a mere local affection. It ignores that school of politics to 



52 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

which Gen. Lee belonged, which included the whole mind of the 
South, and which for three generations had persistently regarded 
the Union as the creature of the States, representing only their 
convenience, and having no mission whatever apart from them. In 
this view of the relations between the Federal government and the 
State, it is clear that the latter was superiour in its claims upon the 
affections of the intelligent ; that it was the peculiar object of pa- 
triotism ; that it was the symbol of the love of country, rather than 
the Union which, in the estimation of the school of politics referred 
to, was the mere geographical designation of a league created by 
the States, and designed for the benefit and pleasure of each. All 
the accusations with which the Northern press has abounded about 
the " disloyalty " or infidelity of those who left the Federal service, 
to take part in the war with the States to which they belonged, 
have been ingeniously coloured by the confusion of two schools of 
politics, and have no other foundation than a plausible and inso- 
lent dogma of partisan sophistry. Lee went with Virginia in the 
war, and to her side of the contest ; for however he valued the 
Union, and saw no necessity for the secession of his State, he 
could not assume to judge for its whole population ; and whatever 
the position of his State, he felt bound to recognize it as that politi- 
cal community to which, as the original and only permanent ele- 
ment in the American system, his allegiance belonged ; as his 
home, around which the affections of the man naturally cling ; as 
the abode of family and friends, where the protection of his arm 
and sword was due in the season of danger. 

Cold, indeed, would have been the heart of any son of Virginia 
in which welled not up affection, admiration, and sympathy, when 
he observed the extraordinary perils which beset her at the com- 
mencement of the war, and the heroic attitude she had assumed in 
the very jaws of danger. She had not seceded in any expectation 
of a peaceable solution of the difficulty, but in the very presence 
of a war that frowned upon her borders, vexed her watei*s, and 
plainly threatened to make her smiling fields the theatre of its 
revenge and crime. Lee had seen at AVashington the mighty 
power preparing to crush his State, and gathering its forces for the 
bound upon its prey ; he knew that the enemy held Fortress Mon- 
roe, her greatest place of arms, and the gate to all the water ave- 
nues into her interiour ; he was sensible that the persistent neutral- 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 53 

ity of Kentucky would practically expose Virginia on three sides 
to her invaders ; he appreciated, as a military man, the weak and 
dangerous situation ; and when he found his noble State daring the 
worst, taking counsel only of her honour, stepping into the breach, 
and baring her bosom to the strokes of relentless war, his heart 
would have been hard, and his spirit dull, had they not sympa- 
thized with the touching scene, and his trained sword been drawn 
in defence of his native land. 

Whenever a man acts conscientiously, from a sincere conviction 
of duty, a just world gives credit for his motives, and describes his 
conduct as generous and noble, whatever may have been the errour 
of his decision. Judged even by this rule, Lee's adhesion to his 
native State, on her declaration of war, was a noble action, because 
it could not have been determined by any other consideration than 
that of duty, and sacrificed to that sense the meaner questions of for- 
tune. To act as he did, was to turn his back upon the highest military 
office in the gift of the Washington government ; to incur the most 
painful censures ; to sacrifice his private estates, which were on the 
direct lines of the Federal invasion, and to put his house and for- 
tunes at the mercy of a declared enemy. Powerful must have been 
the sense of duty that could have conquered such considerations, 
and sublime must have been the struggle of mind in which every 
selfish passion and thought of expediency ultimately surrendered 
to the conviction of right, and the voice of conscience proclaimed 
the victory. 

Almost immediately upon his arrival in Kichmond, the State 
Convention, still assembled there, voted Lee the appointment of 
Major-General, in command of all the military forces in Virginia. 
There had been great anxiety and speculation as to what would be 
his choice in the war ; the newspapers had variously reported his 
position ; a value and interest had been given to his, above all other 
early military names of the war ; it was known that Gen. Scott 
had indorsed him as his ablest lieutenant ; and when at last it was 
made certain that he had abandoned the Federal service, and thrown 
his great name and abilities into the scale for Virginia, the joy in 
Eichmond was extreme. There had been a hope that Gen. Scott, 
himself, would have espoused the cause of his native State, Vir- 
ginia ; but when he declared differently, the people of Virginia 
were more than consoled in the loss of a valetudinarian General, 



54 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

by the gain of Lee, who was popularly reported to have inspired 
the whole campaign in Mexico, to be superiour in mind to his aged 
chief, to have been designated as his early successor in command 
of the armies of the United States, and to have the advantage of 
ripe years and a vigorous body. When, on the 22d April, the 
name of Robert E. Lee was thus communicated by Governor 
Letcher to the Convention as nominee for Commander-in-Chief of 
the Virginia forces, there was an eager and affirmative response. 
The confirmation was unanimous, and without a moment's hesita- 
tion. It was made with a heartiness that attested the cordial and 
unbounded confidence of Virginia in the man to whom, more than 
all others, she now intrusted her destinies. 

The next day, a grand ceremony was appointed in the main hall 
of the Capitol. It was announced that Maj.-Gen. Lee, with a 
distinguished company, would be personally introduced to the 
Convention, and might be expected to make a remarkable speech 
on the occasion. The hall was crowded with an eager audience ; 
all the members of the Convention stood, as a mark of respect ; on 
the right of the presiding officer were Governor Letcher and Mr. 
Stephens, the Vice-President of the Confederacy, and on the left 
the members of the "Advisory Council" of Virginia, while Gen. 
Lee, in the immediate company of the committee appointed to 
receive him, advanced to the centre of the main aisle. Every 
spectator admired the personal appearance of the man, his dignified 
figure, his air of self-poised strength, and features in which shone 
the steady animation of a consciousness of power, purpose, and 
position. He was in the full and hardy flush of ripe years and 
vigorous health. His figure was tall, its constituents well knit 
together ; his head, well shaped and squarely built, gave indica- 
tions of a powerful intellect ; a face not yet interlined by age, still 
remarkable for its personal beauty, was lighted up by eyes black 
in the shade, but brown in the full light, clear, benignant, but with 
a deep recess of light, a curtained fire in them that blazed in 
moments of excitement ; a countenance, the natural expression of 
which was gentle and benevolent, yet struck the beholder as mask- 
ing an iron will. His manners were at once grave and kindly ; 
without gayety or abandon, he was also without the affijctation of 
dignity. Such was the man whose stately figure, in the Capitol at 
Richmond, brought to mind the old race of Virginians, and who 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 55 

was thereafter to win the reputation, not only as the first com- 
mander, but also as the first gentleman of the South, the most 
perfect and beautiful model of manhood in the war. 

Gen. Lee was received with a fulsome piece of rhetoric. The 
presiding officer of the Convention, Mr. Janney, could not resist 
the temptation to make the gaudy speech common on such occa- 
sions. He conceived that the audience, in the circumstances in 
which they stood, might hear the echo of the voices of the states- 
men, the soldiers and sages of by-gone days ; he declared that Vir- 
ginia, having taken a position in defiance of the Federal authority, 
was " animated by one impulse, governed by one desire and one 
determination, and that was that she should be defended, and that 
no spot of her soil should be polluted by the foot of an invader;" 
and, speaking directly to Gen. Lee, he reminded him of the histori- 
cal inspirations connected with his nanre, remarking the singular 
circumstance that his native county of Westmoreland had shown 
peculiar productive power in having given birth to the Father of 
his Country, to Eichard Henry Lee, and to Monroe. Connecting 
the memory of Washington, he closed with this glowing exhorta- 
tion : " When the Father of his Country made his last will and 
testament, he gave his swords to his favourite nephews with an 
injunction that they should never be drawn from their scabbards 
except in self-defence, or in defence of the rights and liberties of 
their country, and, that if drawn for the latter purpose, they should 
fall with them in their hands, rather than relinquish them. Yes- 
terday your mother, Virginia, placed her sword in your hand, upon 
the implied condition that we know you will keep it to the letter 
and in spirit, that you will draw it only in defence, and that you 
will fall with it in your hand rather than the object for which it 
was placed there shall fail." 

The reply of Gen. Lee was very simple and short; but touch- 
ing in its brevity, Washington-like in its modesty, and pervaded 
by a deep tone of solemnity that penetrated the excited and giddy 
assembly that had expected a fulsome harangue. He could not 
have spoken more appropriately. He said : 

" Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention : Profoundly 
impressed with the solemnity of the occasion, for which I must say 
I was not prepared, I accept the position assigned me by your par- 
tiality. I would have much preferred, had your choice fallen 



56 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

upon an abler man. Trusting in Almighty God, an approving 
conscience, and the aid of my fellow-citizens, I devote myself to 
the service of my native State, in whose behalf alone will I ever 
again draw my sword." 

When this ceremony took place, Virginia had not formally 
perfected her alliance and association with the Southern Confed- 
eracy. On the 24th April, it was determined by the Conven- 
tion, that pending the popular vote on the queston of secession, 
military operations, offensive and defensive, in Virginia, should be 
under the chief control and direction of the President of the Con- 
federate States. Confederate troops from South Carolina and the 
States of the Gulf were now being rapidly thrown forward into Vir- 
ginia. On the 10th May, the Confederate Secretary of War 
invested Lee with the control of the forces in Virginia by the fol- 
lowing order : 

Montgomery, May 10, 1861. 
To Maj.-Gen. K. E. Lee: — To prevent confusion, you will 
assume the control of the forces of the Confederate States in Vir- 
ginia, and assign them to such duties as you may indicate, until 
further orders ; for which this will be your authority. 

I. P. Walker, Secretary of War. 

About this time Gen. Lee was busily engaged in organizing 
and equipping the military forces, hurrying from every part of 
Virginia, and rapidly arriving on the trains from the South. It 
was not a brilliant service, but one of peculiar vexation and diffi- 
culty. It required all his experience and skill to establish dis- 
cipline and order; to subdue the excessive spirits of the volun 
teers ; to organize quartermaster and commissary departments ; and 
to bring out of the general excitement and confusion the substance 
and form of great armies. More than fifty thousand men were 
already, in the early days of May, 1861, under arms in Virginia; 
and to organize these, and to distribute them so as to enable the 
immediate concentration of troops upon the borders of the State, 
wherever the movements of the enemy might demand their pres- 
ence, was the immense task imposed upon Lee. He sat almost 
daily in the military council with Gov. Letcher and others; he 
performed an amount of labor that was almost incredible, yet 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 57 

always working with ease and exactness ; and he made the reputa- 
tion of a skilful organizer of armies, before he commenced the 
career of active commander in the field. 

Meanwhile, the popular vote of Virginia having pronounced 
almost unanimously for secession,* and this formality having been 
accomplished, the State linked her destiny with the Southern Con- 
federacy ; and that government signified the appreciation of the 
accession of the great Commonwealth, by transferring its capital to 
Richmond, and making Virginia at once the administrative centre 
of the new power and the main seat of war. Early in June, Maj.- 
Gen. Lee was created a full General in the Confederate service. 
But he was assigned to an obscure and difficult field of service ; 
and the reader will be surprised and pained to find his reputation 
soon clouded by quick and grievous misfortunes. 

* The aggregate of the popular vote of Virginia, on the ordinance of secession, 
so far as exactly known, was as follows : 

For Ratification ........ 125,950 

For Rejection ........ 20,373 

Majority for Ratification . . . . . , 105,577 

There were irregular and conjectural returns from some of the counties, which 
probably reduced the majority to httle less than a hundred thousand votes. 



58 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 



CHAPTER lY. 

Gren. Lee sent to Northwestern Virginia* — Description of the theatre of the war.— 
Unfortunate military councils in Richmond. — Proclamation of Governor Letcher. — 
A caricature of secession. — Disaster of Rich Mountain. — Gen. Lee's plans there- 
after. — He is foiled at Cheat Mountain. — Marches to the Kanawha Valley. — 
Escape of Rosecrans. — Failure of Lee's Campaign. — He is abused and twitted in 
Richmond.— Scoffs of the Richmond " Examiner." — He is assigned to "the coast 
service." — Recalled lo Richmond, and made " Commanding General." — This post 
unimportant, and scarcely honourable. 

What is known as Northwestern Virginia includes all that part 
of the State between the Ohio River and the Alleghany Mountains. 
It has sometimes been called the " highland region " of Virginia. 
But this comparative term is weak and insufficient to describe the 
mountainous character of the region and the extreme abruptness 
and intricacies of its features. The towering ridge of the Alle- 
ghanies separates it from the famous Valley of Virginia ; and the 
county of Randolph, which holds the practicable lines of commu- 
nication between the two, is cut by a series of lofty mountain ridges 
known as the Sewell, Rich, Cheat, Slaughter's, and Middle Moun- 
tains, which till more than half of the county, and leave a belt of 
table, or plain lands, hardly ten miles broad, on its western border. 
There are passes through Cheat and Greenbrier Mountains (the 
latter being properly part of the Alleghany ridge) ; but it needed 
but an ordinary ej'e to see that the entire extent of this country 
was but little practicable for artillery and cavalry. It offered to 
the movements of light-armed infantry only narrow and rough 
roads, winding along the edges of chasms, through rugged valleys, 
over mountain-tops, and across the beds of streams and rivers. 
Through the ravines ran watercourses which, uniting, flowed away 
until they fell into the Tygart's Valley and Cheat Rivers, and ran 
northward and westward to find their way at last into the Ohio. 
In the spring and summer this whole mountain region was habit- 
ually visited by heavy rains, which saturated the forest cover, 
deluged the few open fields, and converted the road-beds into a 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 59 

mixture of mud and clay impassable for artillery and baggage 
wagons. 

It was undoubtedly a great military errour, but one for whicli 
Gen. Lee was not responsible, to attempt the retention and occu- 
pation by the Confederate arms of a country so rugged and intri- 
cate, and so remote in its relations to the dominant campaigns of 
the war. It needs only a glance at the map to indicate to the 
observer the important fact that the communications of ISl orth west- 
ern Virginia were much more easy with the enemy's country than 
with the remainder of "Virginia. The Ohio Eiver washed its west- 
ern border ; the Monongahela pierced its northern boundary ; and 
in addition to these water facilities of the enemy, two railroads, 
from the Ohio eastward, united at Grafton, and enabled the Federal 
government to pour troops rapidly into the very heart of the 
country. The Confederates had no access to it except by tedious 
mountain roads ; having neither navigable river nor railroad by 
which to transport their troops, to compete with equal pace in the 
occupation of the country, and to retreat with facility in case of 
disaster. The true military policy appears to have been to have 
left the enemy in possession of Northwestern Virginia, to tolerate 
his advance from that direction until he involved himself in the 
arduous mountain roads, to tempt him to lengthen his own lines 
of communication, and to have awaited his attacks on the nearer 
side of the wilderness, where the Confederates might have adroitly 
transferred to him the difficulties of transportation, and concen- 
trated with ease to crush him. The country that was to be con- 
tested was no vital part of Virginia ; it was embraced between the 
most populous and fanatical parts of the States of Ohio and Penn- 
sylvania ; and its resources were inconsiderable. 

But the considerations we have referred to did not prevail. 
The policy of the military council in Eichmond to hold Northwest- 
ern Virginia, and drive the enemy out of this region, originated in a 
mistaken generosity towards the inhabitants ; proceeded from an 
unwillingness to leave what was supposed to be a loyal population 
to the oppressions of a few traitors, backed by invaders; and 
assumed the fact that a Confederate army would obtain there the 
active assistance of the people, which would be a great compensa- 
tion as against the superiour force of the enemy, and with respect to 
the topographical disadvantages of the country. It may be gene- 



60 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

rally described as part of the early and much-mistaken military 
policy of the South, to cover everything. When the Confederate 
Military Department took control at Richmond, it adopted towards 
Northwestern Virginia the view that Governor Letcher and his 
advisory council had already decided. 

The policy and hopes of the latter are sufficiently indicated in 
the following proclamation of Governor Letcher, dated June 14, 
1861: 

',' To the People of Northwestern Virginia : 

"The sovereign people of Virginia, unbiassed, and by their 
own free choice, have, by a majority of nearly one hundred thou- 
sand qualified voters, severed the ties that heretofore bound them 
to the Government of the United States, and united this Common- 
wealth with the Confederate States. That our people have the 
right 'to institute a new Government, laying its foundations on 
such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them 
shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness,' was 
proclaimed by our fathers, and it is a right which no freeman 
should ever relinquish. The State of Virginia has now, the 
second time in her history, asserted this right, and it is the duty of 
every Virginian to acknowledge her act when ratified by such a 
majority, and to give his willing cooperation to make good the 
declaration. All her people have voted. Each has taken his 
chance to have his personal views represented. You, as well as 
the rest of the State, have cast your vote fairly, and the majority is 
against you. It is the duty of good citizens to yield to the will of 
the State. The Bill of Rights has proclaimed ' that the people have 
a right to uniform government ; and, therefore, that no govern- 
ment separate from or independent of the government of Virginia 
ought to be erected or established within the limits thereof.' 

"The majority, thus declared, therefore have a right to govern. 
But notwithstanding this right, thus exercised, has been regarded 
by the people of all sections of the United States as undoubted 
and sacred, yet the Government at Washington now utterly denies 
it, and by the exercise of despotic power is endeavouring to coerce 
our people to abject submission to their authority. Virginia has 
asserted her independence. She will maintain it at every hazard. 
She is sustained by the power of ten of her sister Southern States, 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 61 

ready and willing to uphold her cause. Can any true Virginian 
refuse to render assistance ? Men of the Northwest, I appeal to 
you, by all the considerations which have drawn us together as one 
people heretofore, to rally to the standard of the Old Dominion. 
By all the sacred ties of consanguinity, by the intermixtures of the 
blood of East and West, by common paternity, by friendships 
hallowed by a thousand cherished recollections and memories of 
the past, by the relics of the great men of other days, come to 
Virginia's banner, and drive the invader from your soil. There 
may be traitors in the midst of you, who, for selfish ends, have 
turned against their mother, and would permit her to be ignomin- 
iously oppressed and degraded. But I cannot, will not believe 
that a majority of you are not true sons, who will not give your 
blood and your treasure for Virginia's defence. 

"I have sent for your protection such troops as the emergency 
enabled me to collect, in charge of a competent commander. I 
have ordered a large force to go to your aid, but I rely with the 
utmost confidence upon your own strong arms to rescue your fire- 
sides and altars from the pollution of a reckless and ruthless enemy. 
The State is invaded at several points, but ample forces have been 
collected to defend her. 

* * * * * * 

" The troops are posted at Huttonsville. Come with your own 
good weapons and meet them as brothers ! 

" By the Governor : John Letcher." 

It may be remarked here that the people of Northwestern Vir- 
ginia did not respond to this appeal, but indicated a preference for 
the Federal authority, proceeded to construct a new government, 
and thus offered to the army from Eichmond that entered this 
region, the aspect and character of a hostile State, and shifted the 
perils and disadvantages attending an invading force from the 
Federals to the Confederates. On the 20th August, a Convention 
passed an ordinance creating a new State, the boundary of which 
included the counties of Logan, Wyoming, Ealeigh, Fayette, 
Nicholas, Webster, Eandolph, Tucker, Preston, Monongahela, 
Marion, Taylor, Barbour, Upshur,*Harrison, Lewis, Braxton, Clay, 
Kanawha, Boone, Wayne, Cabell, Putnam, Mason, Jackson, Eoane, 
Calhoun, Wirt, Gilmer, Eitchie, Wood, Pleasants, Tyler, Dodd- 



62 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

ridge, "Wetzel, Marshall, Ohio, Brooke, and Hancock. A provi- 
sion was incorporated permitting certain adjoining counties to come 
in if they should desire, by expression of a majority of their people 
to do so. The infinite absurdity was committed at Washington, 
of acknowledging as the State of Virginia a band of disaffected 
counties; and the Federal government, although conducting its 
war on the theory that the withdrawal of the States from the 
Union was heresy and treason, did not hesitate when it suited its 
purposes to put itself into the most glaring and grotesque incon- 
sistency of adopting and confirming a very caricature of secession. 

The defence of Northwestern Virginia was first undertaken by 
Gen. Lee, in dispatching Col. Porterfield to that region, for the 
purpose of raising there a local force. The results of the recruit- 
ing service were small, and to meet the occupation by McClellan, 
who in the latter part of May was throwing a force across the 
Ohio, reinforcements to the amount of about six thousand men 
were directed upon Northwestern Virginia, under command of 
Gen. Garnett, who had belonged to the Federal service. On the 11th 
Jul}', this little army, threatened by fourfold numbers and resources, 
and while imprudently divided — Gen. Garnett having detached 
Pegram from the main position at Laurel Hill, which commanded 
the turnpike from Staunton to Wheeling, to hold Eich Mountain, 
five miles below — was assailed by two columns of the enemy. 
Both parts were compelled to retreat across the Alleghanies, with 
the loss of their baggage and artillery, and about a thousand pris- 
oners ; and at Carrick's Ford, at the passage of the Cheat River, 
Gen. Garnett himself was killed, while attempting to rally the rear- 
guard of the retreat. 

After this disaster, it was determined that Gen.- Lee himself should 
take the field ; and he at once proceeded to organize a campaign, 
with the object of obtaining possession of the Valley of the Kana- 
wha, as well as the country to the northward, from which Gen. 
Garnett hud been driven. He took immediate command of the 
remains of Garnett's army at Monterey, and also directed the 
movements of Gens. Floyd and Wise in the lower country ; the 
latter, after the affair of Eich Mountain, having retreated to Lewis- 
burg, on the Greenbrier Eivef, and Floyd's force of about four 
thousand men having been sent to his relief. 

The field was one of little promise for Lee. He found himself 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 63 

in the midst of a hostile population ; the wild ranges in which he 
was to operate, were known only to the most experienced woods- 
men and hunters frequenting them ; and although he endeavoured 
to shorten the arduous line of communication over the mountain 
roads, by leaving the Central Eailroad at a point forty miles west 
of Staunton, and penetrating the northwest, through the counties 
of Bath and Pocahontas, at the Yalley Mountain, he found that a 
season of unusual rains robbed him even of this success. 

Gen. Eosecrans was at this time commander-in-chief of the 
enemy's forces in Western Virginia, and had left Gen. Eeynolds 
at Cheat Mountain to hold the passes, and the roads to Weston 
and Grafton. The month of August and the early part of Sep- 
tember were consumed by a series of skirmishes, between the 
force under Gen. Lee and that under Gen. Eeynolds. at Cheat 
Mountain. These actions were of but little account ; Lee's main 
object being to dislodge the enemy by manoeuvres, rather than by 
direct attack, and to get a foothold on his flanks or on his rear. 
At one time he had endeavoured to surround and capture the 
enemy's forces which occupied a block-house on one of the three 
summits of the Cheat Mountain, and were also strongly intrenched 
at a place called Elk Water, the junction of Tygart's Yalley Eiver 
and Elk Eun. The plan was well formed; but Col. Eust, with a 
number of Arkansas troops, having failed to attack what was 
known as the Cheat Summit Fort, Gen. Lee found the whole day 
disconcerted, and was compelled to withdraw his troops without 
any results whatever. 

The disappointed commander now resolved to march to the relief 
of Gens. Floyd and Wise, and to unite the whole Confederate array 
in the Kanawha Valley. The movement was successfully accom- 
plished, and Lee concentrated his forces at Sewell Mountain about 
the end of September, having left a detachment of about 2,500 men, 
under Gen. Henry A. Jackson, to guard the road leading to Staun- 
ton, and the line of the Greenbrier Eiver. He had now in hand an 
army of quite 15,000 men ; he undoubtedly outnumbered Eose- 
crans, who had followed him, and was now daily engaged in skir- 
mishing with Wise's troops at Sewell Mountain ; and it was thought 
that Lee might now deliver battle with effect, and bring to some 
sort of issue a hitherto fruitless and desultory campaign. Expecta- 
tion was high, and at last became feverish. For twelve days the 



64 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

two armies remained in position, each waiting an attack from tlie 
other. Finally, one morning, it was discovered by Lee that his 
enemy had disappeared in the night, and reached his old posi- 
tion on the Gauley Kiver, thirty-two miles distant. Gen. Lee was 
unable to follow. The swollen streams and the mud made any- 
thing like hopeful and effective pursuit impossible ; and the advent 
of winter was soon to close active operations, and to leave the cam- 
paign exactly where it started — the Federals holding the country 
west of the Alleghanies, the Confederates occupying the mountains 
and the Greenbrier Valley. 

Even this slight tenure was to be abandoned ; the Confederate 
troops were recalled to other fields, and in November Gen. Lee 
returned to Eichmond with a sadly diminished reputation. The 
campaign west of the Alleghanies was a sorry affair, and an un- 
doubted failure. It had accomplished nothing ; it had expended 
much of time and troops ; it had not onl}'' surrendered the country 
which it was to contest, but it had done so without giving to the 
enemy a single lesson of resolution, or dealing him one important 
stroke of arms ; and it had sacrificed to disease alone, thousands 
of men who had fallen victims to pneumonia and other sickness, 
consequent upon exposure to cold and rain. A just explanation 
of Gen. Lee's failure is perhaps to be found in the circumstances 
against which he had to contend — the disconcert of subordinate 
officers ; and the principal fact, which history has abundantly illus- 
trated, that the greatest abilities often fail in small and petty work, 
where the field is not commensurate with the man, is not suited for 
the display of his characteristics, and is destitute of any great inspi- 
ration. But there were many persons in Eichmond who were not 
inclined to a generous view of the disappointment Gen. Lee had 
given the public in his first campaign, and who at once fell to ridi- 
culing and decrying him. He was twitted as " Letcher's pet." 
He was described as a man living on a historical name and a showy 
presence, with no merit of mind — one who, puffed by what his 
family had done, had cultivated a heavy dignity and a superiour 
manner, with no brains to support the display. It was remembered 
that on his first assumption of command, he had advised that the 
volunteer spirit of the country was unsteady and excessive — that it 
needed repression. It was said that he was tender of blood, and 
Bought to accomplish his campaign in the mountains by strategy, 



GENEEAL EGBERT EDWAED LEE. 65 

rather than by fighting ; it was assumed that he was the represen- 
tative of "West Point in opposition to the school of " fighting Gen- 
erals ; " and all these things were readily put to his discredit in the 
early and flushed periods of the war, when the Southern populace 
clamoured for bloody battles, and were carried away by the imagi- 
nation that a sudden rush of raw men to arms would be sufficient 
to overpower the adversary and accomplish their independence. 
Lee's views were not generally appreciated ; his failure in moun- 
tain warfare was taken by many persons as decisive of his military 
reputation ; and at the period referred to in Richmond, he was the 
most unpopular commander of equal rank in the Confederate service. 
A rumour was circulated about this time, that the one ambition of 
Lee's life was to be Governor of Virginia after the war, and to manu- 
facture reputation in the contest to recommend him for the position. 
The writer recollects with what derision the rumour was received in 
certain quarters in Richmond ; how Mr. Daniel, the editor of the 
ExaTniner, hooted it, and made it part of his quarrel with John 
Letcher, who was supposed to be nursing Lee's conceit ; and how 
the claim of the reputed candidate was generally put down as 
absurd and insolent. And yet, a few years later, and the man thus 
derided might have had the Dictatorship of the entire Southern 
Confederacy, if he had but crooked his finger to accept it ! 

Happily the Government did not share and refused to reflect this 
early popular injustice towards Lee. But in view of his loss of so 
much of the public confidence, it was thought advisable to put him 
into no very active and conspicuous command ; and he was accord- 
ingly sent South, and appointed to the charge of the coast defences 
of South Carolina and Georgia. His duties consisted in super- 
intending the fortifications along the coast, and exercising his 
engineering skill to add to their security. These duties were effi- 
ciently performed ; the district of South Carolina was placed in an 
admirable state of defence ; and Gen. Lee appears to have won in 
this department a new accession of popularity and personal esteem. 
In February, 1862, there was some motion to make him Secretary 
of War ; but it was considered by Congress that he did not com- 
mand enough of the public confidence for this important position. 
It was then decided by President Davis to recall him to Richmond, 
and to confer on him the new appointment of " Commanding Gen- 
eral," to take charge of the military movements of the war. The 

5 



66 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

title of the new office was a sonorous one ; but as Mr. Davis had 
practically annihilated the bill creating it by requiring the miscall- 
ed generalissimo " to act under the direction of the President," it 
may be briefly remarked that the new position of Gen. Lee was 
not an important one, and was scarcely an honourable one. He 
was nothing more than a supernumerary in the hands of Mr. 
Davis. But the great man waits the proper call of events, and the 
occasion commensurate with his power. In this uncertain period 
of Lee's reputation a Southern journal ventured to declare that 
" the time would yet come when his superiour abilities would be 
vindicated both to his own renown and the glory of his country." 



GENERAL EGBERT EDWARD LEE. 67 



CHAPTER Y. 

McClellan's march up the Peninsula. — Recollections of the " White House." — ^Rattle 
of Seven Pines. — Review of condition of the Confederacy. — An act " to disband 
the armies of the Confederacy." — Carnival of misrule. — Gen. Lee in command of 
the forces around Richmond. — Nearly two-thirds of his army raw conscripts. — 
His adoption of Gen. Johnston's idea of concentration. — Manners of Lee as a 
commander. — The great battle joined. — Beaver-Dam Creek. — Gen, Lee resting at 
a farm-house. — The glory of Gaines' Mills. — Brilliant audacity of Gen. Lee in de- 
livering this battle. — Retreat of McClellan. — Frazier's Farm. — Malvern Hill. — 
The circuit of Lee's victories broken. — His official summary of " the Seven Days' 
battles." 

In the early days of May, 1862, McClellan, with his numerous 
and bedraggled army, was toiling up the peninsular shape of land 
formed by the James River and the estuary of the York, while 
Johnston, in command of the Confederate forces, fell back towards 
Richmond with admirable precision, leaving no considerable trace 
of disaster on his retreat. On this memorable march, the advanced 
guard of the Federals occupied the White House on the Pamunkey 
River, formerly the property and home of George Washington, and 
which had come into the possession of Gen. Lee when he married 
Miss Custis. Since the war it had been designated by Gen. Lee 
as his family seat, and was occupied by his wife until the enemy 
approached, and she fled towards Richmond for safety. It is a 
remarkable circumstance, and one much to the honour of McClel- 
lan, who was steadily opposed to all private spoliation in the war, 
that he respected the historical associations of the place, and pro- 
tected the property from all ravages of the soldiery. It was here 
the " Father of his Country" had lived, and within a few miles stood 
the church in which he had been married. When Mrs. Lee departed 
from the house on the approach of the Federal army, she left a 
note on a table which read : " Northern soldiers who profess to 
reverence Washington, forbear to desecrate the home of his first 
married life, the property of his wife, now owned by her descend- 
ants." It happened that almost the first officer who entered the 



68 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

house was a cousin of the Lee family, who had continued to serve 
in the United States army, and commanded a regiment of cavalry. 
Gen. McClellan strictly complied with the request of the owners 
of the house, and not only forbade any of his troops to enter -the 
premises, but even abstained from doing so himself, preferring to 
encamp in the adjoining field. Upon the wall of the room where 
Mrs. Lee's note had been found, one of the guard wrote an answer : 
" A Northern officer has protected your property, in sight of the 
enemy, and at the request of your officer." 

This incident is a very pleasant one ; so exceptional to tl>e usual 
conduct of the Federal armies, and in such honourable contrast to 
what afterwards ensued in the war of incendiarism, plflfWer, and 
wanton destruction. But as an illustration of the rancour at 
Washington, it may be mentioned that this little exhibition . of 
leniency by McClellan, called forth many animadversions, and was 
even brought to the attention of Congress, where occasion was taken 
to accuse him of want of patriotism, and a false sentimentalism 
towards those in arms against the government. The entire circum- 
stance, slight in itself, is interesting as indicating a line of dispute 
in the conduct of the war, on one side of which a violent party 
clamoured for measures of savage revenge, and would even have 
obliterated all respect for the landmarks of history in a wild scene 
of indiscriminate ruin. 

Near the White House the final depot of stores was organized by 
McClellan, and a base of operations established for a direct advance 
on Kichmond. By the close of May he had advanced on the 
Chickahominy, and made an unopposed march to within a few 
miles of the Confederate capital. On the 30th May Johnston made 
dispositions for an attack on the left wing of the Federals, which 
had been thrown forward to a point within six miles of Richmond, 
and fought the brilliant battle of " Seven Pines," severely punishing 
the enemy's divisions, but gaining no permanent ground. In this 
engagement Gen. Johnston was struck down with a severe wound. 
In consequence of this casualty, President Davis yielded to a com- 
mon desire, and on the 3d June appointed Gen. E. E. Lee to take 
chief command of the Confederate forces around Richmond. 

At this critical period of the Confederate arms it will be well to 
make a brief review of the general situation, and especially of cer- 
tain radical changes about this time taking place in the military 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 69 

svstem of the South. When Gen. Lee took command at Richmond 
the condition of the Confederacy was decidedly gloomy, and its 
military fortunes for many months had been evidently on the 
decline. The Border States, which had at first borne the brunt of 
battle, had given way ; Kentucky, Missouri, and Western Virginia 
had gradually been occupied by the enemy's troops ; and the coasts 
of the Confederacy, assailed by fleets to which they had but little 
to oppose, had yielded a footing to the Federal armies. New Orleans 
had been captured, and the curtain had fallen on the policy of 
Europe, either as regarded recognition or intervention. Richmond 
was threatened by an army within a few miles of her limits, the 
strict effective of which was 1 15,000 men ; whilst converging on 
the apparently devoted city from the west and north marched the 
three distinct armies of Fremont, Banks and McDowell, making an 
aggregate of little less than 200,000 men threatening the capital of 
the Confederacy. 

In the internal condition of the South there had been yet more 
serious causes of alarm and anxiety ; and the Confederate armies 
may be described as having just narrowly escaped annihilation by 
demagogical laws, and as passing through the severe and critical 
period of a new organization and morale^ acquiring for the first 
time the substance and integrity of real armies. In December, 1861, 
the weak Provisional Congress at Richmond had passed an act, the 
true title of which would have been " to disband the armies of the 
Confederacy." This law, inspired by the lowest demagogism, 
permitted the men to change their arm of the service, to elect new 
officers, and to reorganize throughout the army. It was said that 
the soldiers claimed the letter of their contract, to leave the service 
at the expiration of one year ; and the weak legislators at Richmond 
thought it necessary to indulge what was called their democratic 
sense of individualism, by allowing them to reduce the organization 
and discipline of the army to whatever standards would content 
them, and to convert their camps into a carnival of misrule, and 
into the vilest scenes of electioneering for commissions. This so- 
called " reorganization " had gone on in the face of an enemy, who, 
if he had taken timely advantage of it, would have found little else 
than demoralized men disgracing the uniform of soldiers, covering 
the most vital points of the Confederacy. Every candidate who 
was anxious to serve his country with braid on his shoulders plied 



70 GENERAL EGBERT EDWARD LEE. 

the men with the lowest arts of the cross-roads politician, even to 
the argument of whiskey, and contributed to the general demoraliza- 
tion ; until the men, feeling the power to dethrone their present offi- 
cers, lost all respect for their authority, and became the miserable 
tools of every adventurer and charlatan who imposed upon their 
confidence. 

On this scene of disorder — upon which the enemy had happily 
not broken — followed the rigorous act of conscription, which at 
once dated a new military era in the Confederacy, and enabled it 
to recruit and reorganize its forces, at least in time to meet the 
tardy steps of the enemy in Virginia. But the forces which came 
under Lee's hands were raw ; there was no time to season the new 
recruits ; and the commander of the forces around Richmond had 
to contend with all the disadvantages incident upon the transition 
period in the military affairs of the Confederacy. The reader will 
doubtless be surprised by the authentic statement, that of the force 
gathered by Lee for the encounter before Eichmond, nearly two- 
thirds were new conscripts, who had never been under fire, and 
were only half instructed. This fact affords a pregnant commen- 
tary on McClellan's delays ; and it indicates — what we shall pres- 
ently see in the battles around Richmond — a singular want of 
mohillly in Lee's army, that curtailed the plans of the commander, 
diminished his victory, and deprived him of more than half the 
expected fruits of his own consummate generalship. 

After the battle of Seven Pines both armies intrenched them- 
selves. McClellan erected field-works, and threw up a line of 
breastworks, flanked with small redoubts, extending from the 
White Oak Swamp in a semicircle to the Chickahominy, and 
inclosing within the lines the railway and the several roads and 
bridges constructed to afford communication with his right wing, 
which continued to hold the country in the neighbourhood of 
Mechanicsville and Cold Harbour. It was now declared that the 
circumvallation, as far as designed, was complete, and that the 
echoes of McClellan's cannon bore the knell of the capital of the 
Confederacy. 

It is but just to observe here, that that theory of action to 
which the Southern Confederacy most owed its safety, viz. : to 
draw in its forces around the capital, concentrate there all its avail- 
able resources, and then fall with crushing weight upon the enemy, 



GENEEAL EOBEET EDWAKD LEE. 71 

had originated in Gen. Johnston's clear and masterly mind; 
while Lee, without a thought of rivalry, readily conceived the 
merit of his predecessor's plan, and determined to continue the 
same line of action. It is also to be observed that an unfortunate 
prejudice of President Davis against Johnston had embarrassed his 
plans, and cross-questioned all his generalship ; but, that when Lee 
took command at Richmond, he was favoured to the utmost in the 
prosecution of the design that Johnston had initiated, was author- 
ized to draw in the Confederate detachments scattered along the 
coast and throughout Virginia, and was by this means, and the 
growing results of the conscription, enabled to raise his effective 
to about ninety thousand men. It remained, however, for Gen. 
Lee to fill up the general outline of action his predecessor had 
traced; he had to make his own immediate plan of battle against 
the extended front of the enemy ; and this he did, as we shall see, 
not only with the consummate skill of a great mind, but with an 
audacity that astonished his countrymen, and took the enemy com- 
pletely by surprise. 

There was an early popular supposition that Lee was rather too 
much of the Fabian stamp of a commander, and disinclined to the 
risks of battle. For several weeks after he had assumed his import- 
ant command, his quiet manners, the absence of all bustle about him, 
and a singular appearance of doing nothing, when in fact he was 
most bus}', confirmed the popular impression of his slowness and 
unwillingness to deliver battle, and inclined the people of Rich- 
mond to believe that he was awaiting the attack of the enemy, 
which he would at least meet with all the resources of a prudent 
and skilful commander. They little imagined that he was medi- 
tating taking the initiative himself, and putting the insolent enemy 
on the defensive. The quiet, thoughtful commander never admitted 
an improper person into his confidence ; he was annoyed by politi- 
cians and Congressional delegations who wanted information of his 
plans, but never obtained it ; he was assailed by foolish clamours 
of demagogues, whose interests in the Confederacy appeared to be 
inclosed within the boundaries of their Congressional districts or 
counties, and who complained that particular parts of the country 
had been stripped of troops to defend Richmond ; he was pursued 
by popular impatience for a battle ; but to all he was the imper- 
turbable gentleman, opposing to curiosity and clamour a placid man- 



72 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

ner and a polite but supreme reticence. Each day be was seen on 
horseback about the lines, dressed in a plain suit of gray, with a 
scanty attendance of staff-officers, presenting, perhaps, not so im- 
pressively his importance and dignity, as a Federal brigadier with 
his couriers and orderlies at his heels. Each day his army was 
busy in strengthening their defensive works, and people wondered 
at McClellan's silence and Lee's apparent unconcern, and specu- 
lated when the great battle would be delivered. 

Lee waited for a precise event. That event was the junction 
of Jackson's forces from the Valley. His plan of battle contem- 
plated that so soon as Jackson, by his manoeuvres on the north 
bank of the Chickahominy, should have uncovered the passage of 
the stream at Meadow and Mechanicsville bridges, the divisions on 
the south bank should cross and join Jackson's column, when the 
whole force should sweep down the north side of the Chickahom- 
iny, towards the York River, laying hold of McClellan's communi- 
cations with the White House. Meanwhile, for almost every day 
in June, the Federal commander had sent a dispatch to "Washing- 
ton that he was about to bring on a general action. On the 25th 
June, it was said that he was preparing for a general forward 
movement by the Williamsburg road. But the preceding night 
the swift and skilful Jackson had reached Ashland, was within 
striking distance of the right wing of the Federal army, and the 
next day the storm of battle was to burst upon the hesitating Mc- 
Clellan and his astounded troops. 

In the morning of the 26th June, the only intimation that Lee 
gave at the War Department of the terrible work before him, was 
a simple brief note, addressed to the Secretary of War, stating 
that he might be beyond a certain designated point where couriers 
could find him, should there be anything of importance the Secre- 
tary might wish to communicate during the day. That was the 
day of battle ! In the afternoon quick beats of sound told the 
feverish ear of Richmond that a great battle was in progress, and 
that the red flails of artillery were at work. The evening sky 
reflected the conflagration at Mechanicsville ; and as the sun de- 
scended, the division of A. P. Hill, joined across the stream by 
those of Longstreet and D. H. Hill, swept down the north bank 
of the Chickahominy, driving the enemy to a further and stronger 
line of defence. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 



At Beaver Dam Creek, a small tributary of the Chickahominy, 

Porter's corps arrested the progress of the Confederate divisions and 

held a position on the almost perpendicular bank of the creek, 

which seemed to defy assault. I3ut the presence of Gen. Lee upon 

the field, accompanied by the President, impelled the troops to the 

attack ; the gigantic struggle was begun here ; the heroic troops 

Wessed up to the stream, but could effect no lodgment within the 

fiostile works ; and the cannonade died away about nine o'clock in 

he night. Morning, however, brought a swift solution of the diffi- 

<yity ; for at dawn Jackson passed Beaver Dam Creek above and 

ty-ned the position. It was at once evident to McClellan that the 

p<^ition of his right wing was no longer tenable, and he therefore 

de^rmined to concentrate his forces, and withdraw Porter's com- 

ma\d to a position near Gaines' Mills, where he could concentrate 

his brces, and occupy a range of heights between Cold Harbour 

and he Chickahominy. 

Icwas evident that the enemy designed to fix here a decisive 
field ; ^nd the Confederates advanced in perfect order, and with 
deliberte dispositions for the attack. Gen. A. P. Hill, who had 
the advince of Lee's column, swung round by New Cold Harbour, 
and advticed his division to the attack. Jackson, who was to 
form the >ft of the Confederate line, had not yet come up, and 
Longstreetjvas held back until Jackson's arrival on the left should 
compel an ^^tension of the Federal line. 

While G^i. Lee waited to get all his divisions in hand, he made 
his temporar3lieadquarters at a farm-house near the battle-field, 
and there wit, perfect composure awaited the critical hour that 
would probabl\ decide the fate of the city whose spires were in 
sight. "What tVig^ts must have been in his mind as he sat en- 
tirely alone on t\ rear portico of the house, while the foreground 
and the adjoining^pchard were occupied by general officers, aides, 
couriers, and prisoi^j-g^ making an animated scene of war ! Offi- 
cers, who in a few laments were to stand face to face with death, 
chatted as gaily as iVhey were going to a picnic. Some sat under 
the shady trees, makL a hasty repast. In the brilliant day, fields 
flecked with sunshineVd dotted with dead men stretched away ; 
the white tents of Madder's and Huger's troops glanced in peace- 
ful light on the other si\ of i\^q Chickahominy ; in other direc- 
tions were fretted landscug ^f cultivated patches, and thickets. 



74 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

and marshes ; then wooded hill-eides ; while, just screened by a 
narrow zone of trees, the brow of an eminence crowned with bat- 
teries told where the demon of destruction had taken cover, and 
glared for a new struggle of vengeance, and a new feast of slaugh- 
ter. Gen. Lee sat alone, as in a reverie ; there were marks of 
thought on his face, but no cloud of care upon the fine open coun- 
tenance ; he awaited an hour on which hung mighty and un 
told destinies, as calmly as a signal for the ordinary duties of tb 
day. It was past noon when a courier rode up, and delivered sone 
papers to him. lie perused them calmly. But the next momeit 
he was mounted, and with Gen. Longstreet by his side, was gall-p- 
ing to New Cold Harbour, three miles distant, where it was jow 
understood Jackson's right wing had already arrived. 

Meanwhile, A. P. Hill had attacked alone, and had gaind no 
advantage, but was losing ground, when Longstreet advanod to 
relieve him. Terrible was the loss of the attacking force s they 
marched over the open ground exposed to a fire of artillry that 
swept every approach to the enemy's lines. Men and ofcers fell 
by hundreds ; mounted officers, who lost their horses, led Lieir men 
on foot; an artillery which was the pride of McClenn'^s army 
appeared to devour the column of attack. But, as the ^ght of the 
Confederate line was thus struggling in vain against^be terrible 
fire, Jackson and D. H. Hill pressed forward on theeft, and suc- 
ceeded in driving back the forces opposed to th'" ; the right 
renewed its efforts, and Gen. Lee, seizing the desive moment, 
ordered a general advance along the whole Conf-iei''^te line. It 
was ordered just as the sun touched the horizon Hood's Texan 
troops were the first to pierce the enemy's strong^'*^) ^'icl seize the 
guns ; his left was broken ; what batteries he srsd retired in such 
haste as to overrun the infantry, and throw he whole mass of 
fugitives into inextricable disorder; and as-iig^^^ ^'^^'j ^be Con- 
federates were satisfied to occupy the field of^^ir victory. 

It was indeed an important field gaine by Lee, and one on 
which McClellan had lost the flower of his ''^Y- But it had been 
won by a boldness of tactics, a brilliant fdacity, such as that in 
which the master of the art of war asser ^is superiority over the 
military commonplace. To deliver an "P"^ ''taut battle, Gen. Lee 
bad divided his army, bringing the grf-er portion to the left bank 
■of'the-Chiekahominy, and actually at greater distance from Rich- 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 75 

mond than the main body of the enemy's forces. He had left 
McClellan's centre and left wing on the south side of the stream, 
with apparently easy access to the city. Twenty-five thousand 
Confederates on this side of the Chickahominy — the troops of 
Magruder and Huger — held in check sixty thousand Federal troops ; 
while Lee shattered the enemy's right wing, and inflicted upon him 
such disaster as to put him on his final retreat. He knew the char- 
acter of his adversary, his caution, his methodical genius ; he cal- 
culated upon the exaggerated opinions which McClellan had formed 
of the Confederate numbers ; and having decided that it was practi- 
cable to deceive him by feints of attack on his centre and left, he 
quickly determined to wrest a victory from his rigiit, and by a 
sudden blow put him beyond the possibility of reclaiming it. 

After the victory of Gaines' Mills, Gen. Lee entertained no 
doubt that the enemy Avould retreat, but by what line was as yet 
unknown. He therefore retained the bulk of his army on the left 
bank of the Chickahominy, trusting to Magruder and Huger to 
observe the movements of the enemy on their front. It was not 
until the night of the 28th, that Gen. Lee discovered that the 
enemy had been imperfectly watched by some of his division com- 
manders, and having gathered his forces, was in rapid motion for 
James River, pursuing a line of retreat through the mass of forest 
and swamps known as White Oak Swamp. McClellan had gained 
one precious day, but he was not yet out of danger ; he had a con- 
siderable stretch of country to traverse ; his men were dispirited ; 
and as the unhappy commander rode down the long lines of his 
army to superintend the retreat, the men of a single corps — Porter's 
— alone cheered as he went by ; and with no other recognition, the 
sorrowful figure of the defeated General passed the whole army on 
its line of march. 

On the morning of the 29th, Lee put his columns in motion in 
pursuit. Magruder pushed forward on the Williamsburg road, 
expecting that Jackson, who was to make the passage at Grapevine 
Bridge, and sweep down the south bank of the Chickahominy, would 
come in to the flank and rear of Savage Station. He found him- 
self, however, engaging only the rear-guard of the enemy, while 
Jackson was engaged nearly all day in rebuilding the bridge over 
the Chickahominy. The next morning McClellan's whole army 
was across White Oak Swamp. It had been the precise design of 



76 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

Gen, Lee, that as the enemy debouched into the region looking out 
towards the James, that Jackson, wno was to press on the leels of 
the retreating army, should come in immediate communication with 
the force under Longstreet, who was to make a detour by the roads 
skirting the river, thus uniting the whole Confederate army so as 
to envelop the enemy, or pierce his line of retreat. The Long 
Bridge, or New Market road, on which moved the two divisions 
of Longstreet and A. P. Hill, was nearly at right angles with the 
road pursued by the Federal army on its retreat ; but as these 
divisions neared the point of intersection, it happened that Jack- 
son's progress was arrested at White Oak Swamp, by the destruc- 
tion of the bridges, and that McClellan was thus enabled, while 
Jackson was paralyzed, to turn upon the force menacing his flanks. 
A severe fight, known as the battle of Frazier's Farm, was main- 
tained for several hours; and it was only by the most desperate 
courage that the small Confederate force held the field. During 
the night the forces that had checked Longstreet withdrew ; and 
Lee, proceeding to collect his scattered divisions — awaiting the 
arrival of Magruder, who came up about midnight, and that of 
Huger, who should have come up on the right of Longstreet, but 
was too slow to get into action, and joined by Jackson the next 
morning, who had a good cause for his delay — had the Confederate 
army again concentrated on the morning of the 1st July. But the 
great opportunity had passed ; and when he was next able to strike 
the enemy it was only after the latter had assembled all his forces 
on Malvern Hill, and had assured communication with the Federal 
gunboats in the river. 

The battle of Malvern Hill was a bloody attempt to take by 
assault an elevated plateau, on M'hich the enemy had planted all 
that remained of his artillery, and instanced again the want of 
concert between Lee's divisions. The troops of A. P. Hill and 
Longstreet were held in reserve ; while Jackson's divisions, on the 
left, and those under Magruder and Huger, on the right, were 
advanced to carry the heights by storm. But an attack was pre- 
maturely made by D. H. Hill, commanding one of Jackson's divi- 
sions; it was not supported by Magruder and Huger; and when 
the latter did finally advance, a brigade was thrown forward at a 
time, only to be beaten back in detail. 

It was unfortunate for Lee's eclat that the circuit of victory was 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 77 

broken here, and that the last incident of the struggle threw a 
shadow on the succession of fields he had won. But at least the 
final retreat of the enemy was assured; the Confederate capital was 
visibly saved ; and although Lee had not ascended to the climax 
of success he had designed, and destroyed McClellan, he had accom- 
plished a great and admirable work with an army, the greater por- 
tion of which was raw troops, which was badly officered, and which 
had bungled the best combinations of the commander. Gen. Lee 
has since declared that " under ordinary circumstances " the Fede- 
ral force which menaced Richmond should have been destroyed; 
but his army was not as mobile as he expected ; there was an evi- 
dent disarray throughout it ; some of the division commanders 
were utterly incompetent ; the scene of operations was a country 
of numerous intricate roads, of marshy streams, and of forests ; and 
the wonder and admiration is that the Confederate commander 
accomplished what he did under circumstances so exceptional and 
injurious. 

In his official report. Gen. Lee wrote : " Regret that more was 
not accomplished, gives way to gratitude to the Sovereign Ruler of 
the universe for the results achieved. The siege of Richmond was 
raised ; and the object of a campaign, which had been prosecuted, 
after months of preparation, at an enormous expenditure of men 
and money, completely frustrated. More than 10,000 prisoners, 
including officers of rank, 52 pieces of artillery, and upwards of 
35,000 stand of small-arms, were captured. The stores and sup- 
plies of every description which fell into our hands were great in 
amount and value, but small in comparison with those destroyed 
by the enemy. His losses in battle exceeded our own, as attested by 
the thousands of dead and wounded left on every field ; while his 
subsequent inaction shows in what condition the survivors reached 
the protection to which they fled." 



78 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 



CHAPTER VI. 

General Lee the favourite of the populace. — He moves out to the line of the Rappa- 
hannock. — Cedar Run. — Bold and daring enterprise of General Lee, in detaching 
Jackson to the enemy's rear. — A peculiarity of his campaig-ns. — How he dis- 
regarded the maxims of military science. — The battles of Second Manassas. — Gen. 
Lee marches for the fords of the Potomac. — His address at Frederick, Maryland, 
— Jackson detached again. — McClellan finds an important paper. — The Thermo- 
pylge of " South Mountain Pass." — Battle of Sharpsburg. — Gen. Lee obtains a 
victory^ but is unable to press it. — He retires to Virginia. — An authentic state- 
ment of Gen. Lee's reasons for the Maryland campaign. — His constant and char- 
acteristic idea of defending Richmond by operations at a distance from it. — Con- 
gratulations to his troops. — Moral results of the campaign of 1862. — Testimonies 
to Southern heroism. 

Gen. Lee had fought what was now the greatest battle of the 
war, in sight of Richmond ; he had effected the deliverance of more 
than one hundred thousand people within sound of his guns ; he 
became the favourite of the populace, and was cheered in the streets 
of the capital. But his great historical fame and the best display 
of his abilities was to commence when he withdrew from Rich- 
mond, moved out to the line of the Rappahannock, and for two 
years carried his arms along the Blue Ridge and the Potomac, and 
extended the blaze of war to the very foreground of Washington. 

The foilure of McClellan lo take Richmond was a great disap- 
pointment to the North, but, like all its disappointments, was fol- 
lowed by energetic measures for the prosecution of the war. On 
the 11th July, by order of President Lincoln, Gen. Ilalleck was 
appointed General-in-Chief of the whole land forces of the United 
States. Gen. Burnside, with a large portion of his army, was 
recalled from North Carolina, and dispatched to the James River to 
reinforce Gen. McClellan, and plans were considered for another 
advance on Richmond, under the guidance of Gen. Pope, who had 
been appointed to the command of the forces in the vicinity of 
Washington, and in the Shenandoah Valley. 

But while these movements were in progress, Gen. Lee had 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 79 

detacLed Jackson to cbeck Pope in his supposed advance on Gor- 
donsville, which he efFectuallj did by the battle of Cedar Run ; 
and in a few weeks, the Confederate commander removed from 
James River, and massed his army between the Rappahannock 
and the Rapidan, directly on the flank of the new Grand Army 
which Pope had assembled. In his expectation, however, of a 
decisive battle here, he was disappointed. Gen. Pope had no 
intention of renewing a trial of strength with the Confederates 
after his experience at Cedar Run ; and with a prudence which ill 
assorted with his insolent address to his troops, promising them 
that they should see nothing but the " backs of rebels," he fell 
back promptly to the north bank of the Rappahannock, and, 
crowning every hill with his batteries, prepared to dispute the 
passage of the river. 

In this situation Gen. Lee conceived a bold and daring enter- 
prise, which appears never to have entered even the imagination 
of the enemy. In the morning of the 24th August, he sent for 
a courier, and after asking Gen. Chilton, his Adjutant-General, if he 
was sure the man could be relied upon, he said to that officer : 
" General, make it a positive order to Gen. Jackson to march through 
Thoroughfare Gap, and attack the enemy in the rear, while I bring 
up the rest of the army ; " and then turning to the courier, 
remarked : " Young man, if you are not well mounted, my 
Inspector-General will see that you are," The order was swiftly 
conveyed, and by night Jackson had taken up his hard and peril- 
ous march in the direction indicated. 

The detachment of Jackson with twenty thousand men, so as 
to have the whole army of Pope interposed between it and its 
friends, was a hazardous measure, and was in fact contrary to the 
maxims of the military art, as it put Lee to the risk of being 
beaten in detail. But there is a higher generalship than that of 
formal maxims, which quickly and rightly estimates the mind and 
temper of an adversary, and founds its plan of action on these con- 
ditions, rather than on fixed rules of military science, and often in 
defiance of them ; and of this supreme and fine order of general- 
ship, we shall find many instances in the career of Lee. We have 
already seen a display of it in the battles around Richmond, when, 
to obtain a great victory, he exposed an advantage to McClellan, 
which he calculated his mind and temper were incapable of seiz- 



80 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

ing ; and we now find him repeating the same experiment with 
Pope, and using, as a great General always does, knowledge of the 
character of his opponent as a condition of his enterprises. This 
peculiarity, indeed, runs through the whole of Gen. Lee's campaigns, 
and is most interesting in its suggestions; it exhibits what at first 
view seems a curious inexplicable union of great prudence on some 
occasions, with the most daring enterprise on others ; and it offers 
to the military inquirer a fine study of those instances in which 
genius surmounts the rules of war, constructs theories on moral as 
well as material grounds, and wins victories in spite of the maxims 
of science. 

Had Pope been a Lee, the order which detached Jackson to the 
rear, would indeed have been putting the Confederate army in the 
jaws of death. As it was, the movement took him by the surprise 
which Lee had calculated, and when he heard that Jackson was in 
his rear at Manassas, he was so utterly unable to take into his ima- 
gination a thing so opposed to his military commonplaces, so little 
sensible of the extent of the enterprise, that he at first supposed it 
was only an incursion of cavalry upon his supplies. 

When at last Pope's army faced towards "Washington, Lee and 
Longstreet at once started on the circuitous march through Thor- 
oughfare Gap, to join Jackson. When they came up with him, 
along the line of the Manassas Gap Railroad, he had already fought 
the battle of Groveton ; and on the 29th August, he sustained the 
shock of Pope's attack, with no assistance from Longstreet, beyond 
a few brigades sent to his support in the evening. The great battle 
occurred on the 30th August. 

The enemy had been reinforced, but from the experience of the 
two preceding days, appeared to have lost much of his confidence, 
and to hesitate in manoeuvres for attack. For a considerable time 
the action was fought principally with artillery. Then followed an 
advance in three lines of the Federal infantry, which was repulsed 
with great loss by the concentrated fire of some batteries posted on 
a commanding position. It was now evening, and Gen. Lee per- 
ceiving that there w'as confusion in the enemy's lines, ordered a 
general advance. Jackson on the left, and Longstreet on the right, 
pushed forward. The advance was never checked ; the result was, 
the enemy was driven back in confusion over the old battle ground 
of Bull Run ; a large number of prisoners were captured — 7,000 



GENEEAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 81 

paroled on the field of battle — and the remains of Pope's army, 
during the night of the 80th, crossed Bull Kun stream, and took 
refuge behind the field-works at Centreville, where Sumner's and 
Franklin's corps, which had arrived from Alexandria and the lines 
around Washington, were drawn up. 

The next morning, the enemy was discovered in the strong posi- 
tion at Centreville, and Gen. Lee's army was put in motion towards 
the Little Eiver turnpike, to turn his right. Upon reaching Ox 
Hill, on the 1st September, Gen. Lee again discovered the enemy 
in his front, on the heights of Germantown ; and about 5 p.m. a 
spirited attack was made by the Federals upon the front and right 
of Lee's columns, with a view of apparently covering the with- 
drawal of their trains on the Centreville road, and masking their 
retreat. The position of the Confederates was maintained with but 
slight loss on both sides, Maj.-Gen. Kearney was left by the enemy 
dead on the field. During the night the enemy fell back to Fair- 
fax Court-house, and abandoned his position at Centreville. The 
next day, about noon, he evacuated Fairfax Court-house, taking 
the roads to Alexandria and Washington. 

So far, the summer campaign in Virginia had been a succession 
of Confederate victories. Gen. Lee had already obtained an extraor- 
dinary reputation for moderation in his statements, of successy and 
when he telegraphed to Richmond that he had obtained, ob the 
plains of Manassas, " a signal victory," the popular joy was. assured. 
The results were large and brilliant. Virginia was now cleared of 
invading armies, and there was no appearance of an enemy within- 
her borders, save at the fortified posts along the coast, where they 
were protected by their overwhelming naval forces, at Alexandria,, 
and at Harper's Ferry, and Martinsburg, in the Valley. A circuit 
of wonderful victories illuminated the fortunes of the Confederacy ; 
an aggregate force of the enemy, much exceeding 200,ODO m^en, 
had been defeated ; an immense spoil had been gathered ; and in a 
few weeks the war had been carried from the gates of Richiooond 
to the foreground of the enemy's capital. 

But Gen. Lee was not a man to repose on laurels, when there 
were others yet to be won.. On the 3d September his army was- 
on the march for the fords of the Potomac ! He had quickly re- 
solved to turn aside from Washington, cross the Potomac, and par- 
sue his advantage by invading the country of the enemy in retU'rUj 

a 



82 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

and tbus give such occupation to him as would secure to Virginia, 
during the remainder of the season, a respite from the devastations 
of war, and the burden of invading armies. It was considered, 
too, in some quarters, that such a movement might inspirit the 
people of Maryland to attempt something in the way of their own 
liberation ; and that there might be many speculative results of an 
invasion of the enemy's territory, which the temper of the South 
had so long demanded. 

On the 8th September we find Gen. Lee assembling his army 
at Frederick, in Maryland, and issuing the following address to 
the people of that State : 

" Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, 

" Near Frederick, Monday, Sept. 8, 1862. 

" To THE People of Maryland : — It is right that you 
should know the purpose that has brought the army under my 
command within the limits of your State, so far as that purpose 
concerns yourselves. The people of the Confederate States have 
long watched with the deepest sympathy the wrongs and outrages 
that have been inflicted upon the citizens of a commonwealth allied 
to the States of the South by the strongest social, political, and com- 
mercial ties, and reduced to the condition of a conquered province. 
Under the pretence of supporting the Constitution, but in viola- 
tion of its most valuable provisions, your citizens have been ar- 
rested and imprisoned, upon no charge, and contrary to all the 
forms of law. A faithful and manly protest against this outrage, 
made by an illustrious Marylander, to whom, in better days, no 
citizen a|)pealed for right in vain, was treated with contempt and 
scorn. The government of your chief city has been usurped by 
armed strangers ; your Legislature has been dissolved by the un- 
lawful arrest of its members ; freedom of speech and of the press 
has been suppressed; words have been declared offences by an 
arbitrary decree of the Federal Executive, and citizens ordered to 
be tried by military commissions for what they may dare to speak. 

" Believing that the people of Maryland possess a spirit too 
lofty to submit to such a Government, the people of the South 
have long wished to aid you in throwing off this foreign yoke, to 
enable you again to enjoy the inalienable rights of freemen, and 
.restore the independence and sovereignty of your State. In 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 83 

obedience to this wish, our army has come among you, and is pre- 
pared to assist you with the power of its arms in regaining the 
rights of which you have been so unjustly despoiled. This, citi- 
zens of Maryland, is our mission, so far as you are concerned. No 
restraint on your free will is intended ; no intimidation will be al- 
lowed within the limits of this army, at least. Marylanders shall 
once more enjoy their ancient freedom of thought and speech. 
We know no enemies among you, and will protect all of you in 
every opinion. It is for you to decide your destiny, freely and 
without constraint. This army will respect your choice, whatever 
it may be ; and while the Southern people will rejoice to welcome 
you to your natural position among them, they will only welcome 
you when you come in of your own free will. 

" R. E. Lee, General Commanding. '''' 

Gren. Lee had supposed that his advance to Frederick would 
cause the evacuation of Harper's Ferry. This not having occur- 
red, and it being necessary to open the line of communication 
through the Yalley, Jackson's command was detached to accom- 
plish this purpose ; it being calculated by Gen. Lee that the re- 
duction of Harper's Ferry would be accomplished, and his columns 
again concentrated, before he would be called upon to meet the 
Federal army, which, placed again under the command of McClel- 
lan, showed great hesitation in the resumption of the campaign, 
and was evidently bewildered as to the designs of the Confederates. 
But these designs were betrayed by a singular circumstance. 
While Gen. Lee moved to Boonsboro and Hagerstown, to await 
Jackson's operations, there curiously fell into the hands of the 
enemy a copy of the order which Gen. Lee had prepared at Fred- 
erick, detailing with exactitude the proposed movements of the 
several portions of his army. The paper had been conveyed to 
Gen. D. H. Hill, who from some cause of dissatisfaction, and in a 
characteristic fit of impatience, tossed it to the ground; and, lying 
there forgotten, it was picked up by a soldier of the Federal army, 
and forwarded at once to McClellan, who thus became possessed 
of the exact detail of his adversary's plan of operations. 

McClellan immediately ordered a rapid movement towards Har- 
per's Ferry ; and Gen. Lee, unaware of what had happened, was 
surprised to find the Federal army marching from its lines, with 



84 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

the intention of ofifering battle, and relieving Harper's Ferry. The 
division of D. H. Hill was instantly ordered to guard the South 
Mountain pass, and Longstreet was instructed to move from Ha- 
gerstown to his support. A severe action took place here ; but the 
object was only to delay the enemy ; and when at last McClellan 
broke through South Mountain and was in position to relieve the 
beleaguered force at Harper's Ferry, he found it had already been 
surrendered to the rapid and indomitable Jackson. Meanwhile, 
the forces of Longstreet and D. H, Hill were withdrawn into the 
valley of the Antietam ; and Gen. Lee prepared to take position 
to confront a united army, far larger than his own, advancing to 
meet him, and to fight a battle against superiour forces, not for con- 
quest, but for safety. 

On the 14th and 15th September, Gen. Lee took up a posi- 
tion on a range of low heights near the creek of Antietam; the 
little town of Sharpsburg, which gave the Confederate name to the 
battle that was to ensue, being almost in the centre of his line. 
The undulations of the ground and the thick masses of wood that 
clothed the hill-sides enabled him to conceal the strength of his 
army. On the 16th, Jackson arrived from Harper's Ferry with a 
greater portion of his corps ; but the divisions of McLaws, Ander- 
son, Walker, and A. P. Hill, had not yet effected a junction with 
Gen. Lee, and on the morning of the 17th, about 33,000 Confed- 
erates were in line of battle to engage a united army which certainly 
exceeded 100,000 men within the limits of the field. It was an 
anxious situation for the Confederates. Gen. Jackson held the left 
of the line, extending from near the Potomac to the Sharpsburg 
and Boonsboro road ; in the centre was D. H. Hill's division, and 
the right was but thinly occupied by what remained of Longstreet's 
corps. 

As the morning of the 17th of September broke, the batteries 
of both armies opened fire, and the battle was commenced by 
Hooker attacking with a corps of 18,000 men on the Confederate 
left. Here for several hours the action raged with varying success. 
The Confederates for some time held their ground, though suffering 
terribly. More than half the brigades forming the first line were 
either killed or wounded, together with nearly every regimental 
commander. Of this appalling loss, Gen. Early, who took com- 
mand of Ewell's old division, after Gen. Lawton had been shot 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWAEU LEE. 85 

down, says : " The terrible nature of the conflict in which these 
brigades had been engaged, and the steadiness with which they 
maintained their position, is shown by the losses they sustained. 
They did not retire from the field until Gen. Lawton (commanding 
division) had been wounded and borne from the field. Col, Doug- 
las, commanding Lawton's Brigade, had been killed, and the 
brigade had sustained a loss of 554 killed and wounded, out of 
1,150, losing five regimental commanders out of six. Hayes, 
Brigade had sustained a loss of 823 out of 550, including every 
regimental commander and all of his staff; and Col. Walker and 
one of his staff had been disabled, and the brigade he was com- 
manding had sustained a loss of 228 out of less than 700 present, 
including three out of four regimental commanders." 

But as the Confederate line at last gave way under an attack so 
terrible, some portions of Walker's and McLaw's divisions reached 
the field, and Early, converting the defence into an attack, led for- 
ward his brigades, drove back Hooker's corps, and shook the 
Federal line so severely that McClellan feared at one time that his 
centre would be broken. The retreat, however, of the enemy's 
infantry, unmasked the powerful artillery in the first line of woods, 
and the fire from these batteries checked the Confederate pursuit. 

While the battle slackened here, there occurred on another part 
of the field a yet more critical and desperate struggle, occasioned 
by the effort of Burnside to obtain possession of the lower bridge 
over the Antietam. Five attacks here at different times, were 
heroically repulsed by two Georgia regiments under Gen. Toombs, 
and the enemy was at last compelled, by crossing the fords lower 
down, to flank the position, Toombs withdrawing his command, 
and Burnside being content to hold the bridge without demonstrat- 
ing further. About 3 P.M., however, there came an imperative 
order from McClellan that Burnside should press forward to the 
attack of the batteries on the heights in his front. Here again the 
first incident was a successful advance of the enemy ; Burnside 
gained the crest, driving back Jones's division of 2,000 men. But 
at this critical moment Gen. A. P. Hill arrived on the ground from 
Harper's Ferry, and took up a position on the right of the Confed- 
erate line, and opposed to Burnside. This reinforcement was most 
opportune ; it enabled the Confederates to assume the offensive, 
and Burnside was driven from the heights he had carried, and with 



86 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

some difficulty maintained his bold of tlie bridge. It was now a 
desperate time with the enemy. A correspondent of a Northern 
newspaper thus describes what was taking place on the Federal 
side in the half hour of daylight that was yet left : " More infantry 
comes up ; Burnside is outnumbered, flanked, compelled to yield 
the hill he took so bravely. His position is no longer one of 
attack ; he defends himself with unfaltering firmness, but he 
sends to McClellan for help. McClelkin's glass for the last half- 
hour has seldom been turned away from the left. He sees clearly 
enough that Burnside is pressed — needs no messenger to tell him 
that. His face grows darker with anxious thought. Looking 
down into the valley where 15,000 troops are lying, he turns a 
half-questioning look on Fitz-John Porter, who stands by his side, 
gravely scanning the field. They are Porter's troops below, 
are fresh, and only impatient to share in this fight. But Porter 
slowly shakes his head, and one may believe that the same thought 
is passing through the minds of both Generals. ' They are the only 
reserves of the army ; they cannot be spared.' McClellan remounts 
his horse, and with Porter and a dozen officers of his staff, rides 
away to the left in Burnside's direction. Sykes meets them on the 
road — a good soldier, whose opinion is worth taking. The three 
Generals talk briefly together. It is easy to see that the moment 
has come when everj^thing may turn on one order given or with- 
held, when the history of the battle is only to be written in 
thoughts and purposes and words of the General. Burnside's mes- 
senger rides up. His message is : ' I want troops and guns. If 
you do not send them, I cannot hold my position half an hour.' 
McClellan's only answer for the moment is a glance at the western 
sky. Then he turns and speaks very slowly : ' Tell Gen. Burnside 
this is the battle of the war. He must hold his ground till dark at 
any cost. I will send him Miller's battery. I can do nothing 
more. I have no infantry.' Then as the messenger was riding 
away he called him back. ' Tell him if he cannot hold his ground, 
then the bridge to the last man ! — always the bridge I If the bridge 
is lost, all is lost.' " 

But the Confederates did not press their advantage ; they found 
the approaches to the Antietam swept by a heavy artillery fire ; 
they were too much exhausted to encounter fresh troops of the 
enemy, and as night fell they were recalled to their former posi- 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 87 

tion, satisfied to have driven Burnside under tbe shelter of his 
batteries. 

The next day McClellan was indisposed to renew the battle. 
He consulted anxiously with his officers, and finally resolved to 
defer attack during the 18th, with the determination, however (as 
he reports), to renew it on the 19th, if reinforcements expected 
from Washington should arrive. The morning of the 19th came, 
and with it the discovery that Lee had withdrawn across the 
Potomac, and already stood again with his army on the soil of 
Virginia. Although victory had inclined to him on the field of 
Sharpsburg, the Confederate commander readily perceived that 
with his worn and diminished army he could not hope to make 
head against an army so superiour in numbers, and situated so as 
to receive constant reinforcements ; that, in fact, there was an end 
to the invasion, although all the other objects of the campaign had 
been fully accomplished ; and so, with a sufficient sum of glory, 
without loss or molestation on their retreat, the Army of Northern 
Virginia crossed the Potomac, remained in the vicinity of Bunker 
Hill and Winchester to recruit before being moved to Lee's fa- 
vourite ground of combat between the Eapidan and the Eappa- 
hannock, and concluded the ever-memorable campaign of the 
summer and autumn of 1862. 

Gen. Lee always claimed Sharpsburg as a Confederate victory. 
His force on that field, all told, including the divisions which came 
up in the evening, was less than 40,000 men ; with these numbers 
he had inflicted a loss upon the enemy of 12,500 men— nearly 
double his own — had gained some ground, and although too 
weak to assume the offensive, had awaited steadily for a whole 
day a renewal of the attack. But if Sharpsburg had been 
more than a statistical victory — one constituted by a com- 
parison of casualty lists — if Gen. Lee had routed McClellan 
and broken the only array of force between him and Wash- 
ington, he would then have had at his mercy the capital, and 
all the principal cities of the Korth, and would probably have 
been able to continue his invasion to the successful issue of peace 
and independence ; and it was only with respect to such a result, 
pictured by the lively popular imagination of the South, that his 
campaign fell short, and produced a feeling of disappointment. 
How fearful was the situation was well described in McClellan's 



88 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

own words, when, speaking of what depended on the field of 
Sharpsburg, he declared : " At that moment, Virginia lost, Wash- 
ington menaced, Maryland invaded, the national cause could afford 
no risks of defeat. One battle lost, and almost all would have 
been lost. Lee's army might then have marched as it pleased on 
Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, or New York. It could 
have levied its supplies from a fertile and undevastated country, 
extorted tribute from wealthy and populous cities; and nowhere 
east of the Alleghanies was there another organized force able to 
arrest its march." These almost mortal apprehensions of the 
enemy were not realized. The idea of an invasion reaching to the 
vitals of the North had to be abandoned ; the prospects of a popu- 
lar rising in Maryland proved illusory ; but although these expecta- 
tions of the campaign, which were popular and speculative, and 
reallj'- subordinate in Gen. Lee's plan of action, were not fulfilled, 
the result actually accomplished was a real and considerable suc- 
cess, and answered the reasonable expectations of the commander. 
This success consisted in the facts that Virginia was relieved of 
invading armies ; that a respite was obtained for the revival of her 
industry and the collection of her resources ; that important time 
was secured for recruiting and reorganizing the army ; and that 
" the line of the Rappahannock " was cleared, and made the proper 
defence of Richmond. 

So many various reasons have been ascribed to Gen. Lee for his 
movement into Maryland, and that campaign has been estimated 
on so many different hypotheses, that it will be well here to give 
the authentic version of it, and with it the key to all of Gen. Lee's 
campaigns in the war. When he first took command before Rich- 
mond he had conceived the idea that the proper line of defence for 
the capital was at the greatest possible distance from it, and that 
any investment of the city by the enemy's forces, unless it could 
be speedily broken, would ultimately and surely prove fatal to the 
defenders. The situation of Richmond he regarded as peculiar, 
and as plainly justifying this view of defence. It was an inland 
city, fed by seven different railroads and one canal, and was 
entirely dependent on its communications ; and as Gen. Lee prop- 
erly assumed, what the war subsequently proved, that railroads 
could not be protected against cavalry, he concluded that Richmond 
could not be held as a defensive point, and was to be protected by 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 89 

an army operating at some distance from it, with its lines of supply 
drawn through the city. His great anxiety was to keep the wai 
as far as possible from Richmond, and especially to get it on the 
enemy's frontier, so as to relieve the country he protected, and 
make himself sure of supplies. This idea ran through all his cam- 
paigns. It urged him to cross the Potomac whenever he could, 
and at any rate to keep the war on the line of the Rappahannock. 
The persistent effort of all his campaigns was to make the theatre' 
of operations as far as possible from Richmond ; and in the last 
periods of the war, when the army holding that city and its out- 
posts was almost palsied, we shall find him making the last, despe- 
rate, characteristic effort to relieve the capital by a campaign in the 
Valley and on the Potomac. 

But we must not anticipate the events of the war, and we 
return to consider the results of the Maryland campaign. The 
account of the operations of the summer and autumn of 1862 is 
appropriately concluded with Gen. Lee's address to his troops on 
their return to Virginia : 

Headqdaetees Aemy of Northern VreaiNiA, 

October 2, 1862. 

In reviewing the achievements of the army during the present 
campaign, the Commanding General cannot withhold the expres- 
sion of his admiration of the indomitable courage it has displayed 
in battle, and its cheerful endurance of privation and hardship on 
the march. 

Since your great victories around Richmond, you have defeated 
the enemy at Cedar Mountain, expelled him from the Rappahan- 
nock, and, after a conflict of three days, utterly repulsed him 
on the plains of Manassas, and forced him to take shelter within 
the fortifications around his capital. 

"Without halting for repose you crossed the Potomac, stormed 
the heights of Harper's Ferry, made prisoners of more than eleven 
thousand men, and captured upwards of seventy pieces of artillery, 
all their small-arms, and other munitions of war. 

While one corps of the army was thus engaged, the other 
insured its success by arresting, at Boonsboro, the combined armies 
of the enemy, advancing under their favourite General to the relief 
of their beleaguered comrades. 



90 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

On the field of Sharpsburg, with less than one-third his num- 
bers, you resisted, from daylight until dark, the whole army of the 
enemy, and repulsed every attack along his entire front, of more 
than four miles in extent. 

The whole of the following day you stood prepared to resume 
the conflict on the same ground, and retired next morning, with- 
out molestation, across the Potomac. 

Two attempts, subsequently made by the enemy, to follow you 
across the river, have resulted in his complete discomfiture and 
being driven back with loss. 

Achievements such as these demanded much valour and patriot- 
ism. History records few examples of greater fortitude and endur- 
ance than this army has exhibited ; and I am commissioned by the 
President to thank you in the name of the Confederate States for 
the undying fame you have won for their arms. 

Much as you have done, much more remains to be accom- 
plished. The enemy again threatens us with invasion, and to 
your tried valour and patriotism the country looks with confidence 
for deliverance and safety. Your past exploits give assurance that 
this confidence is not misplaced. 

B. E. Lee, General Commanding. 

The moral effect of the campaign which Gen. Lee had now con- 
cluded is too large and brilliant to be omitted from any estimate 
of results. To the world it was a chapter of wonders. It had 
accomplished a sum of victories unequalled in the same space of 
time by anything in the previous or subsequent experience of the 
war ; it had made a record of toils, hardships, and glories famous in 
history ; it had accumulated a brilliant spoil ; and the wonderful 
statement is derived from the books of the provost-marshal in Eich- 
mond, that in twelve or fifteen weeks the Confederates had taken 
and paroled no less than forty-odd thousand prisoners ! If " the 
opinion of foreign nations may be taken as an anticipation of the 
judgment of posterity," the Confederates had already for these 
achievements an assurance of historical memory that nothing could 
defeat. Of the events we have narrated, the leading journal of 
Europe — the London Times — declared : " The people of the Con- 
federate States have made themeelves famous. If the renown of 
brilliant courage, stern devotion to a cause, and military achieve- 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 91 

ments almost -without a parallel, can compensate men for the toil 
and privations of the hour, then the countrymen of Lee and Jack- 
son may be consoled amid their sufferings. From all parts of 
Europe, from their enemies as well as their friends, from those 
who condemn their acts as well as those who sympathize with 
them, comes the tribute of admiration. When the history of this 
war is written, the admiration will doubtless become deeper and 
stronger, for the veil which has covered the South will be drawn 
away, and disclose a picture of patriotism, of unanimous self-sacri- 
fice, of wise and firm administration, which we can now only see 
indistinctly. The details of extraordinary national effort which 
has led to the repulse and almost to the destruction of an invading 
force of more than half a million of men, will then become known 
to the world ; and, whatever may be the fate of the new nation- 
ality, or its subsequent claims to the respect of mankind, it will 
assuredly begin its career with a reputation for genius and valour 
which the most famous nations may envy." 

Even the enemy was forced to tributes of admiration. " It was 
not," writes a historian* of the events, " without mixed feelings 
that the better classes in the North heard of the exploits of their 
former fellow-countrymen. They could not but admire the mili- 
tary qualities and personal character of the leaders of the Confed- 
erate armies ; and although feeling the reproach that their own 
well-equipped troops had been beaten by men who possessed few 
of their advantages, yet they received some comfort from the fact 
that their opponents were Americans. Even if a portion of the 
Democratic party could scarce refrain from the opinion that a 
Union under President Davis and Gren. Lee would be preferable to 
discord under President Lincoln and Mr. Stanton, few can blame 
them." 

Indeed, this admiration of the Confederates went so far that pop- 
ular orators in New York freely and abundantly declared that the 
war had increased the respect felt by the North for the South. 
For once, without the fear of Federal authorities before their 
eyes, they pointed to what appeared to them the miraculous 
resources of the "rebel" government, the bravery of its troops, 
their patience under hardships, their unshrinking firmness in the 

* Flekher : History of the American "War. Bentlet, London. 



92 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

desperate position thej had assumed, the wonderful success with 
which they had extemporized manufactures and munitions of war, 
and kept themselves in communication with the world in spite of a 
magnificent blockade ; the elasticity with which they had risen from 
defeat, and the courage they had shown in threatening again and 
again the capital of the North, and even its interiour. It will be 
recollected that such a eulogy of the Confederates was publicly pro- 
nounced by Dr, Bellows, one of the most popular preachers of New 
York. He concluded : " Well is Gen. McClellan reported to have 
said (privately), as he watched their obstinate fighting at Antietam, 
and saw them retiring in perfect order in the midst of the most fright- 
ful carnage, ' What terrible neighbours these would be ! We 
must conquer them, or they will conquer us I '" 

These testimonies to Confederate heroism are not idly repeated 
here. Each year of the war had some characteristic by which it 
is easily remembered ; and that of 18G2 may be taken as the 
period of the greatest lustre of the Confederate arms. Whatever 
its sequel, what is testified of it here remains, cannot be recalled 
from the memory of the world, and constitutes a secure monument 
of history, which no after-thought of envy, no modification of opin- 
ions on the part of an enemy ultimately successful, can possibly 
destroy or diminish. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 93 



CHAPTER VII. 

Greneral Lee's perilous situation in North Virginia. — His alarming letter to the War 
OflSce. — The happy fortune of McClellan's removal. — The Battle of Fredericks- 
burg. — Gen. Lee's great mistake in not renewing the attack. — His own confes- 
sion of errour. — He detaches nearly a third of his army to cover the south side of 
Richmond. — He writes a severe letter to the Government. — The enemy's fifth 
grand attempt on Richmond. — Gen. Lee in a desperate extremity. — The Battles 
of ChanceUorsville. — Three victories for the Confederates. — The masterpiece of 
Gen. Lee's military life. 

After the battle of Sharpsburg, Gen. Lee did not indicate an 
immediate purpose to retire from the Potomac, but remained in 
the neighbourhood of Winchester, anxiously waiting for the devel- 
opment of McClellan's designs. There was serious reason to 
apprehend that the enemy would again press him to battle. But 
the extreme moral timidity of McClellan again gave opportunities 
to the Confederates ; and while with an army already triple that of 
Lee, he was yet entreating and importuning the government at 
Washington for reinforcements, the latter was recruiting his 
strength so terribly diminished by the hardships of the Gordons- 
ville and Maryland campaign, and making necessary preparations 
for the renewal of operations. In not pressing Lee after his retire- 
ment into Virginia, McClellan made the great mistake of his mili- 
tary career. Of the reality and extent of his opportunity at this 
time, we have in evidence a letter of Gen. Lee himself In the 
first days of November, 1862, he wrote to the War Department that 
he had not half men enough to resist McClellan's advance with his 
mighty army, and that he would have to resort to manoeuvring in 
preference to risking his army in battle. He added that three- 
fourths of the cavalry horses were sick with sore-tongue, and their 
hoofs were falling off; he complained that his soldiers were not 
fed and clad as they should be ; and he expressed the greatest 
anxiety as to any movement of McClellan threatening battle. 

But most happily for the Confederates, the uncertainty of 
McClellan's designs terminated in his removal from command, and 



94 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

the appointment of Gen. Burnside to succeed him ; event which 
gave occasion to a new meditation and. plan of campaign, and 
secured for Gen. Lee the delay which he so much needed. It was 
a deliverance from an alarming crisis. Gen. Lee had at first sup- 
posed that Burnside intended to embark his army for the south 
side of James River, to operate probably in eastern North 
Carolina ; but in the latter part of November, the enemy showed 
plainly another design, and the Confederate scouts reported large 
masses of infantry advancing on Fredericksburg. On the 18th 
November, a. portion of Longstreet's corps was marched thither ; 
and Gen. Lee wrote to Richmond : " Before the enemy's trains 
can leave Fredericksburg" {i.e. for Richmond) "this whole army 
will be in position." The assurance was faithfully and full}' kept, 
and Burnside found his alert antagonist in full force on the banks 
of the Rappahannock. 

The battle of Fredericksburg, on the 13th December, 1862, was 
one of the most easily and cheaply won Confederate victories of the 
war. It was a striking illustration of the advantage of fighting in 
a strong position — an advantage too little regarded by the Confed- 
erates during the war ; for although victories in open fields obtained 
for the South a certain prestige, it was at the woful price of the 
flower of her people, for which there was but little compensation in 
the loss of life in the enemy's ranks, recruited as they were from 
the dregs of his own society, and the mercenary markets of the 
whole world.* At Fredericksburg, the Confederate position was 
all that could be desired by Gen. Lee. His army was drawn up 
along the heights, which, retiring in a semicircle from the river, 
embraced within their arms a plain six miles in length, and from 
two to three in depth. This semicircle of hills terminated at Massa- 
ponax River, about five miles below Fredericksburg. The right 

* Dr. Dabney, the biographer of Stonewall Jackson, writing in 1863, says : "One- 
lialf of the prisoners of war, registered by the victorious armies of the South, have 
been foreign mercenaries. Mr. Smith O'Brien, warning his race against the unhallowed 
enterprise, declares that the Moloch of Yankee ambition has already sacrificed 200,000 
Irishmen to it. And still, as the flaming sword of the South mows down these hire- 
ling invaders, fresh hordes throng the shores. Last, our country has to wage this 
strife only on these cruel terms, that the blood of her chivalrous sons shall be 
matched against the sordid streams of this cloaca popvlorum. In the words of Lord 
Luidsay, at Flodden Field, we must play our ' Rose Nobles of gold, against crooked 
sixpences.' " 



GENEKAL ROBEET EDWARD LEE. 95 

of the Confederate army, extending nearly as far as the Massaponax, 
comprised the cavalry and horse artillery under Gen. J. E. B. 
Stuart, posted on the only ground at all suitable for that arm of the 
service. On his left was Gen. Jackson's corps, of which Early's 
division formed the right, and A. P. Hill's the left ; the divisions of 
Taliaferro and D. H. Hill being in reserve. The left wing of the 
army, under Gen. Longstreet, comprised the division of Hood on 
the right, next to it that of Pickett, then those of McLaws, Ransom 
and Anderson. The artillery was massed together, and not dis- 
persed among the divisions, and was so posted as to sweep the 
front of the position. It may be remarked that this was Gen. Lee's 
favourite disposition of his artillery in battle, and in this instance 
it was much favoured by the semicircular formation of the hills. 

The battle was at first declared against the Confederate right by 
a heavy attack upon Jackson, which was repulsed, and finally 
ceased about noon. By this time fresh divisions had crossed the 
'iver at Fredericksburg, and the mass of Burnside's army was 
brought to the desperate attack of Marye's Height, held by McLaws' 
division and the Washington artillery. Here, during the whole 
afternoon, attack after attack was repeated with a desperation never 
before exhibited by the enemy, and with appalling recklessness of 
human life. " It is hardly to be supposed," says a Northern writer, 
" that Gen. Burnside had contemplated the bloody sequence to 
which he was committing himself when first he ordered a division 
to assail the heights of Fredericksburg ; but having failed in the 
first assault, and then in the second and third, there grew up in 
his mind something which those around him saw to be akin to 
desperation. Riding down from his headquarters to the bank of 
the Rappahannock, he walked restlessly up and down, and gazing 
over at the heights across the river, exclaimed vehemently, 'That 
crest must be carried to-night.' Alreadj-, however, everything 
had been thrown in, saving Hooker, and he was now ordered over 
the river." But all was in vain. Hooker's attack shared the 
fate of its predecessors ; the men rushed forward, then wavered, a 
third of their number fell, and the remainder fled. During the entire 
afternoon the struggle continued. The simile, so commonly used in 
descriptions of battles, of waves breaking upon a rock- bound coast, 
was never more just in its conception than in the frantic battle in 
which the Federal divisions were shattered upon the heights assailed, 



96 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

and were hurled back, one after the other, on the crimson tide of 
death. 

Night closed on a field on which lay more than ten thousand 
Federals killed or wounded. Gen. Lee dispatched to Eichmond : 
** Our loss during the operations since the movements of the enemy- 
began, amounts to about 1800 killed and wounded." It was a 
great victory ; but the Confederate public expected from it some- 
thing more than eclat^ and had reason to hope that there would be 
inflicted upon the enemy not only defeat, but destruction. It was 
thus thattheinconsequence of Burnside's safe retreat across the river 
was a great disappointment, attended for the first time with some 
popular censure of Gen. Lee. The only reply to such censure was 
a very candid explanation, in which Gen. Lee confessed he had 
been surprised as to the extent of the enemy's disaster and his de- 
sign of retreat. In an official report he says : " The attack on 
the 13th had been so easily repulsed^ and by so small a part of our 
army, that it was not supposed the enemy would limit his effort to 
one attempt, which, in view of the magnitude of his preparations, 
and the extent of his force, seemed to be comparatively insignifi- 
cant. Believing, therefore, that he would attack us, it was not 
deemed expedient to lose the advantages of our position, and ex- 
pose the troops to the fire of his inaccessible batteries beyond the 
river, by advancing against him. But we were necessarily igno- 
rant of the extent to which he had suffered, and only became 
aware of it when, on the morning of the 16th, it was discovered 
that he had availed himself of the darkness of night, and the prev- 
alence of a violent storm of wind and rain, to recross the river." 

"With the Confederate victory of Fredericksburg quiet fell upon 
the lines of the Eappahannock ; but on other theatres of the war 
there was not that cessation of interest that might have been ex- 
pected in the harshest months of winter. The authorities at Eich- 
mond were soon disturbed by reported movements of the enemy in 
other directions, apparently against the city and its southern com- 
munications ; and the consequence of these alarms and anxieties, 
in which Gen. Lee fully shared, was, that about one-third of his 
army had to be detached to cover the south side of the capital. In 
the month of February, 1863, the greater portion of Longstreet's 
command was sent to confront the army corps of Hooker, supposed 
to have been sent to the Peninsula, and to watch the movements 



GENERAL BOBERT EDWARD LEE. 97 

of the enemy in the neighbourhood of Suffolk and on the coast of 
North Carolina. It was a period of indecision and anxiety ; Charles- 
ton was threatened, and Gen. Lee advised every available man 
to be sent thither ; the enemy was reported at various points of 
the sea-coast south of James Eiver, and it was not known where 
his heaviest blow would be delivered ; and distracted by so many 
prospects of attack, the policy of dispersion became, for a time, a 
necessary one, and Gen. Lee found himself, with not more than 
two-thirds of the army he had in the battle of Fredericksburg, 
left to watch the movements of the enemy still remaining north of 
the Rappahannock. 

This serious diminution of his forces affected Gen. Lee with great 
anxiety, in view of the exigencies of the approaching spring cam- 
paign, in which the fate of Virginia, and of the sea-coast, and of the 
Mississippi Valley, appeared to be equally involved, and naturally 
led to a revision of all the Confederate forces in the field. He 
made it the occasion of one of the plainest letters he ever wrote to 
the War Department — a letter in which the tone of censure and 
rebuke was more apparent than in any appeal he ever made to the 
patriotism of the people and the wisdom of the authorities. He 
suggested to the government an appeal to the Governors of the 
States to aid more directly in recruiting the armies. He said the 
people habitually expected too much from the troops now in the 
field ; that because they had gained many victories, it did not follow 
that they should always gain them ; that the legitimate fruits of 
victory had hitherto been lost for the want of numbers on our 
side ; and, finally, that all those who failed to go to the field at 
such a momentous period, were guilty of the blood of the brave 
soldiers who perished in the effort to achieve independence. 

While Lee's force on the Eappahannock was reduced to the 
extent we have noticed, the enemy had always been able to keep 
up its army in Northern Virginia to a strength exceeding 100,000 
men ; and now, for its fifth attempt on Richmond, had a force not 
less than 150,000, under the command of "Fighting Joe Hooker," 
the hero of Northern prints. To meet this tremendous force, Gen. 
Lee had the corps of Jackson, and only two divisions of Longstreet's 
corps — Anderson's and McLaws' — a total of about 45,000 men. 
Jackson's corps consisted of four divisions, commanded by A. P. 
Hill, Rodes, Colston, and Early. 

7 



98 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

Gen. Hooker's plan of attack was to divide liis arm}' into two 
portions, of which the stronger, having crossed the Rappahannock 
and Rapidan rivers, should advance against the Confederate left 
wing ; while the Federal left wing, under Sedgwick, equal in num- 
bers to Gen, Lee's whole army, should attack and occupy the heights 
above Fredericksburg, and seize the railroad to Richmond. On the 
night of the 28th April, the greater portion of the Federal army 
crossed the rivers, and headed towards Chancellorsville, the assigned 
point of concentration. 

The situation in whicli Hooker boasted that the Confederate 
army must " either ingloriously fly or come out from behind its 
defences," where " certain destruction awaited it," was no sooner 
perceived by Gen. Lee, than he determined, leaving Early's division 
to deal with Sedgwick at Fredericksburg, to " come out" with the 
remainder of his little army against Hooker's four corps at Chan- 
cellorsville. On the 29th April, Jackson's three divisions, and 
those of McLaws and Anderson (Early's division remaining in the 
lines of Fredericksburg), were on the road to Chancellorsville. 
The aspect of affairs was anything but reassuring. The force 
moved out towards Chancellorsville was outnumbered nearly three 
to one; from 90,000 to 100,000 men were on what had formerly 
been its left rear, but which was now its front; while a force equal- 
ling in strength the whole army, threatened, by an advance from 
Fredericksburg, either to crush it or force it to retreat with both 
flanks exposed, and with a cavalry column of 10,000 sabres already 
ou its communications with Richmond. 

But it was the absence of his cavalry which he had sent away 
in assurance of Lee's retreat, that proved the fatal circumstance 
for Hooker-; for it at once suggested the surprise of a movement 
on his flank. While, therefore, the divisions of Anderson and 
McLaws were sufficient to amuse him by feints of attack in front 
— indeed to such effect that on the 1st May he ordered another of 
his divisions from across the river, under the impression that the 
Confederates were in force in his front — Jackson was marching 
swiftly and silently to find his flank in the Wilderness. In the 
evening of the 2d May, the battle of the Wilderness was fought ; 
Jackson striking the extreme right of the Federal army, routing 
Howard's corps, and driving the entire right wing of the enemy 
.down upon the divisions of Anderson and McLaws. The torrent 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 99 

of Jackson's success was stemmed only by his fall in the midst of 
a victory, the completion of which had to be reserved for another 
day. 

On the 3d May, Gen. Stuart, having succeeded to Jackson's 
command, bore down again on the enemy's right wing, while Gen. 
Lee's remaining divisions attacked the centre and left. By ten 
o'clock in the morning, Hooker was driven to his second line of 
intrenchments, Chancellorsville was taken, and the destruction of 
the enemy now appeared to be the work of but a few hours. But 
just here that adverse combination of circumstances in which Gen. 
Lee fought was again apparent ; and as he gathered up his forces 
to attack Hooker's fresh position, news came that Sedgwick, 
having turned Marye's Heights, was advancing from Fredericks- 
burg, while Early had fallen back to a position at Salem Church, 
five miles from the town. It became necessary at once to turn 
attention to this movement; and McLaws' division was rapidly 
marched to Early's support in time to check Sedgwick's advanced 
troops, and drive them back on the main body. On the 4th May 
the battle was renewed, and Sedgwick was overwhelmed and 
driven back in disgraceful confusion, while Hooker remained idle 
in his intrenchments, detained in a defensive attitude by a few 
Confederate divisions, thoroughly cowed, and without spirit even 
to make the attempt to relieve one of his own corps. On the 
night of the 5th, his grand army, despite its losses yet larger than 
that of Lee, but directed by a commander who had evidently lost 
all stomach for fight, retreated across the river in a drenching 
storm of wind and rain, leaving behind it 17,000 killed, wounded, 
and prisoners, 14 pieces of artillery, and 30,000 stand of arms. 

Thus three victories — that of the Wilderness, that on Hooker's 
front, and that at Salem Church, all compassed in the general 
name of "the battle of Chancellorsville" — had been achieved by 
Gen. Lee in so many days. In looking back upon all the circum- 
stances of this struggle, it must be pronounced to have been for 
Gen. Lee the most brilliant of the war, and to have crowned his 
reputation for transcendent courage and ability. All the move- 
ments of the enemy preceding the battle had been successful and 
well-timed ; he had turned the Confederate line of defence on the 
right and on the left ; and he had apparently placed the little 
army of Lee in the jaws of destruction. With what consummate 



100 GENERAL IIOBERT EDWARD LEE. 

skill tlae great Confederate commander extricated his army ; with 
what impregnable equanimity he awaited the full development of 
his adversary's designs ; with what admirable readiness he divided 
his forces, and concentrated his chief strength upon the important 
point ; with what towering courage he at last struck the enemy on 
his vulnerable side, then engaged him in front, and finally turned 
to engage a victorious column in his rear, the reader will perceive 
even from the bare outlines of the battle we have given in the pre- 
ceding narrative. Those who were near Gen. Lee's person in 
these eventful three days, say that his self-possession was perfect, 
and his calm, courteous demeanour the same as on ordinary occa- 
sions ; he spoke of his success without exultation ; and from first 
to last, his unshaken confidence in his men fortified his resolution 
and manners, and assured him of victory. 

A few days after the battle of Chancellorsville, Gen. Lee issued 
an address to his army, congratulating them for "the heroic con- 
duct they had displayed under trying vicissitudes of heat and storm, 
in a tangled wilderness, and again on the hills of Fredericksburg," 
and inviting them to unite on the following Sunday "in ascribing 
to the Lord of Hosts the glory due His name." At the same time 
a letter from President Davis was read, wherein he said to Gen. Lee: 
" Li the name of the people, I offer my cordial thanks to you and 
the troops under your command, for this addition to the unpre- 
cedented series of great victories which your army has achieved. 
The universal rejoicing produced by this happy result, will be 
mingled with a general regret for the good and the brave who are 
numbered among the killed and wounded." 

Two great victories, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, had 
now been won on the banks of the Eappahannock ; but they had 
no other effect than driving the enemy back to the hills of Stafford. 
The position was one in which he could not be attacked to advan- 
tage. It was on this reflection that Gen. Lee resolved on a new and 
adventurous campaign. It was to manoeuvre Hooker out of Vir- 
ginia, to clear the Shenandoah Yalley of the troops of the enemy, 
and to renew the experiment of the transfer of hostilities north of 
the Potomac. But the events of this campaign we reserve for 
another chapter. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 101 



CHAPTEE YIIL 

Controversy between Gen. Lee and the War Department. — The Secretary winces. — 
Gen. Lee's new campaign of invasion. — How it differed from that of 1862. — Reor- 
ganization of the Army of Northern Virginia. — Some remarks on its artillery 
service. — Gen. Lee across the Potomac. — His orders at Chambersburg, Pa. — His 
errours with respect to the policy of " retaliation." — His conversation with a mill- 
owner. — A letter from President Davis. — Gen. Lee misunderstood and disappointed 
by the Richmond authorities. — Orders to Stuart's cavalry. — The Confederate army 
Minded in Pennsylvania for want of cavalry. — The battle of Gettysburg has the 
moral effect of a surprise to Gen. Lee. — The lost opportunity of the 1st July. — Why 
Gen. Lee fought the next day. — Temper of his army. — He assaults the enemy's 
centre on the 3d July. — Recoil of the Confederates. — Gen. Lee cheering and com- 
forting hia men. — His fearful retreat, and his wonderful success in extricating 
his army. 

In the shifting of forces consequent upon the battle of Chan- 
cellorsville, the divisions of Longstreet that had been operating 
in Southeastern Virginia were recalled to Gen. Lee ; and the usual 
consequence of a great victory in the return of large numbers of 
" absentees" to the ranks, was fully realized. From these sources 
Gen, Lee rapidly increased his army to the mark of the necessities 
of the campaign he now designed. 

Since Gen. Lee had been in command, he had been able to 
effect a much-desired reform in curtailing the authority of the 
War department, which at one time had presumed to dictate cam- 
paigns, and had once driven Gen. Jackson to the extremity of 
resignation by moving forces under his command by its peremp- 
tory orders. That despotic department was now much reduced in 
its authority, and its favourite idea of a dispersion of forces was 
brought within limits. After what we have already said of de- 
tachments from Gen. Lee's army, and the peril this policy occa- 
sioned at Chancellorsville, it will surprise the reader to learn that 
on the 15th May, 1863, the Secretary of War dispatched him that 
a portion of his army (Pickett's division) might be sent to Missis- 
sippi. To this untimely and vexatious call. Gen, Lee replied that 
it was a dangerous and doubtful expedient ; that it was a question 



102 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

between Virginia and Mississippi; but that he would send off the 
division without delay, if still deemed necessary. The issue was 
thus boldly and sharply thrust upon the Richmond authorities. 
The Secretary winced, and the troops were not sent away. 

The campaign which Gen. Lee had now determined upon was 
more properly one of invasion than when in the previous year he 
had crossed the Potomac into Maryland. His design was larger 
and more ambitious; and so far as it contemplated not merely 
putting back the war to the trans-Potomac region for the purpose 
of respite, but a steady and formidable invasion of the enemy's 
territory, it overleaped the former defensive and prudent policy 
that had hitherto prevailed in the military councils of the Con- 
federacy. The reoccupation of the Shenandoah Valley, the in- 
vasion of Pennsylvania, and the change in the theatre of the war 
from Virginia to the enemy's country, were the immediate objects 
of Lee's intended movements. Whatever might result from these 
operations could not be foreseen, and the ultimate designs could 
only develop themselves as success, or the reverse, should occur 
in the campaign, and influence its prosecution. But never was the 
prospect of invasion more hopeful. It was undoubtedly thrust 
upon Gen. Lee by the excited and extraordinary spirit of his army 
and the country. The morale of his troops had been wonderfully 
improved by the victories of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville ; 
the confidence of the men and of their commander had been greatly 
raised by these events ; the army of Northern Virginia had been 
mobilized, improved, was in better condition in transportation, 
equipment, and clothing (and in every respect but supplies) than 
it had been before, and in increased confidence in itself and con- 
tempt for the enemy, was said to be " equal to anything ; " and, 
above all, the public temper of the South, swollen and bursting 
with grief at the ruin the enemy had wrought on its own dwellings 
and fields, fiercely and with one voice demanded that in this season 
of opportunity, some of the suffering and rigour of the war should 
be carried home to the people of the North. Gen. Lee could not 
be insensible to these considerations, or wholly deaf to the appeals 
of the populace. Pennsylvania offered supplies for his troops, and 
Commissary Northrop had told him to go there to find them ; the 
spirit of his army pointed to invasion ; and so, when the alterna- 
tive of campaigns was presented at Richmond, of reinforcing the 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 103 

armies of the West or carrying the war across the Potomac, Gen. 
Lee chose the latter, believing that a victory in Pennsylvania, 
besides all its other advantages, would be a counterpoise to what- 
ever successes the enemy might obtain in the West, and relieve the 
pressure on our armies in Tennessee, Mississippi, and in all parts 
of the Confederacy. It was thus for various reasons and in peculiar 
circumstances that he cut loose from the defensive policy, and on 
his own responsibility undertook the experiment of invasion. 

In preparation for the campaign, the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia was now thoroughly reorganized, and divided into three equal 
and distinct corps. The reorganization was made with a view to 
recent promotions in the army — five Major-Generals and two Lieu- 
tenant-Generals having obtained their promotions, without a proper 
distribution of commands. The two Lieutenant-Generals were 
Ewell and A. P. Hill. To each of these a corps was assigned, 
consisting of three divisions ; Gen. Longstreet, for this purpose, 
parting with one of his divisions (Anderson's). A. P. Hill's old 
division, reduced by two brigades, was assigned to Maj.-Gen. W. 
D. Pender. The two brigades taken from A. P. Hill's division 
were united with Pettigrew's and another North Carolina brigade, 
and assigned to Maj.-Gen. Heth, who, with Maj.-Gen. Pender, had 
been recently promoted from the rank of Brigadier-General. Gen. 
A. P. Hill was assigned to the command of this corps, whilst Gen. 
Ewell retained Jackson's old corps, consisting of Early's division 
(Early having been made a Major-General in February, and receiv- 
ing command of Ewell's old division), Eode's division, and Trim- 
ble's division, the latter assigned to Gen. Edward Johnson, then 
just promoted to a Major-Generalship. There were thus three 
corps of three divisions : Longstreet (McLaws, Hood, and Pickett); 
A. P. Hill (Anderson, Pender, and Heth) ; Ewell (Early, Rodes, 
and Johnson) — each corps numbering about 25,000 men, with about 
16,000 cavalry, under Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, making a total of 
90,000 men. 

But the most important part of the reorganization, directed by 
Gen. Lee, was the reform of the artillery arm, which had been 
wonderfully growing in strength and brilliancy since the time 
when the famous " Washington Artillery " first wreathed the Con- 
federate banner with the smoke of its guns on the field of Manas- 
sas. It had now become the matchless pride of the Army of North- 



104 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

em Virginia, and presented a splendid array of high intelligence, 
practised skill, and disciplined valour. The original organization 
of the Confederate artillery was into companies, attached each to 
its infantry brigade, and subject to the orders of the brigadier; but 
it was soon discovered that commanders of brigade, the great major- 
ity of whom were from the walks of civil life, were not the class 
of officers to give the artillery arm that power and effectiveness, of 
which, under skilful scientific direction, it was so eminently sus- 
ceptible. Therefore, before the opening of the spring campaign 
of 1863, a regular artillery and ordnance staff" was organized in 
the Army of Northern Virginia, with Gen. Pendleton at its head. 
Battalions were formed, numbering from sixteen to twenty guns 
each, and operating in the field, with its respective, infantry divi- 
sion, and each under the immediate command of its own artillery 
chief, who had been assigned, or promoted to it, by reason of his 
distinguished fitness and qualification, as indicated by former tests 
of high excellence in the practice of the field. And under the 
direction of this able corps of artillery officers, the grand Southern 
field-park, both mounted and horse, proudly asserted its claim to a 
place in the very front rank of the artillery armament of the world. 
Pelham's and McGregor's famous cavalry batteries, that operated 
with the dashing troopers of Stuart, won a distinction, second not 
even to the celebrity of the famous flying artillery of Austria. 

For the first two years of the war, the field-metal of the Con- 
federate park was greatly inferiour to that of the enemy. The bat- 
tles of Bull Eun, and Manassas, and the Seven Pines, were fought 
with six-pounder guns, twelve-pounder howitzers, and a few three- 
inch rifles; and it was not until the battle of Chancellorsville, that 
the Confederate artillery armament was of sufficiently heavy metal 
to cope successfully with the formidable Federal field-ordnance. 
By capture and foreign purchase, the artillery of the Army of 
Northern Virginia was strengthened by a full field-complement of 
ten and twenty-pounder Parrotts, the twelve-pounder Parrotts, the 
twelve-pounder Napoleon gun-howitzer, and a few Whitworth and 
Armstrong rifles ; but the twenty-pounder Parrotts, and the twelve- 
pounder Napoleons, were the weapons with which the Confederate 
artillerists chiefly won their bloody trophies, and wrote such a bril- 
liant chapter in the records of artillery performance. In notliing 
was the Southern artillery inferiour to that of the Federals, save in 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 105 

the matter of ammunition ; in every other particular it was decid- 
edly superiour, as attested on every field where the two armies were 
brought into direct collision. 

To gain the Shenandoah Yalley and relieve the town of Win- 
chester was the first aim of the intended movement. In the first 
week in June, Longstreet's and Ewell's corps were directed to 
march on Culpeper, whilst the corps of A. P, Hill was left to 
occupy the lines of Fredericksburg. A reconnoissance of cavalry 
imperfectly disclosed the movement to Hooker; but while his 
attention was turned to Culpeper, and guarding the line of the 
Rappahannock, Ewell's corps was thrust into the Yalley through 
Chester Gap, and, moving rapidly on Winchester, captured the 
place, with more than three thousand prisoners and thirty pieces 
of artillery. Upon learning the movement, and now quite bewil- 
dered as to the designs of the Confederates, Hooker broke up his 
camps along the Rappahannock, and moved on the direct route 
towards Washington, following the line of the Orange and Alex- 
andria Railroad, his first anxiety being to respond to Mr. Lincoln's 
usual fears for the safety of the capital. The disappearance of the 
enemy behind the hills of Stafford was the signal for A. P. Hill to 
take up his line of march towards Culpeper, where Longstreet's 
corps still held position. On the 22d June, Ewell, with the van 
of the invading columns, passed into Maryland ; and two days 
later the corps of Longstreet and Hill, making the passage of the 
Potomac at Williamsport and Shepherdstown, followed the path 
of Ewell into Pennsylvania. The troopers of Jenkins had already 
preceded Ewell's advance by a week, and had penetrated Pennsyl- 
vania as far as Chambersburg, throwing the whole country into a 
condition of unparalleled alarm and excitement. President Lin- 
coln issued a proclamation calling for one hundred thousand mili- 
tia from the States most directly menaced ; New York was sum- 
moned to send twenty thousand men ; the archives were removed 
from Harrisburg, and the farmers in the rich vallej's drove their 
cattle to the mountains. Some asserted positively that Pittsburg 
and Ohio were the objects of Lee's march ; others that Harrisburg, 
and even Philadelphia, would fall into his hands; and others, 
again, pointed to Baltimore and Washington as the true points 
which were menaced by the invading army. 

After crossing the Potomac, Gen. Lee had marched up the 



106 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

Cumberland Valley, while Ewell's corps occupied York and Car- 
lisle, and threatened the passage of the Susquehanna at Columbia 
and Harrisburg. Within twenty days he had brought his army 
from Fredericksburg into Pennsylvania, made the march in the 
face of hostile garrisons at Winchester, Martinsburg, Harper's 
Ferry, and Berryville, blinded the enemy as to his designs, and 
moved without his progress having been once seriously arrested. 
He had now fairly entered upon the campaign, and at Chambers- 
burg issued the following order to his troops for their government 
in the enemy's country : 

Headquabters Abmt Northern Virginia, 
Chambebsburg, Pa., June 27, 1863. 

General Orders No. 73. — The Commanding General has 
observed with marked satisfaction the conduct of the troops on the 
march, and confidently anticipates results commensurate with the 
high spirit they have manifested. No troops could have displayed 
greater fortitude, or better performed the arduous marches of the 
past ten days. Their conduct in other respects has, with few 
exceptions, been in keeping with their character as soldiers, and 
entitles them to approbation and praise. 

There have, however, been instances of forgetfulness on the 
part of some, that they have in keeping the yet unsullied reputa- 
tion of the army, and that the duties exacted of us by civilization 
and Christianity are not less obligatory in the country of the enemy 
than in our own. 

The Commanding General considers that no greater disgrace 
could befall the army, and through it, our whole people, than the 
perpetration of the barbarous outrages upon the innocent and de- 
fenceless, and the wanton destruction of private property, that have 
marked the course of the enemy in our own country. Such pro- 
ceedings not only disgrace the perpetrators and all connected with 
them, but are subversive of the discipline and efficiency of the 
army and destructive of the ends of our present movements. It 
must be remembered that we make war only upon armed men, and 
that we cannot take vengeance for the wrongs our people have 
suffered without lowering ourselves in the eyes of all whose abhor- 
rence has been excited by the atrocities of our enemy, and offend- 
ing against Him to whom vengeance belongeth, without whose 
favour and support our efforts must all prove in vain. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 107 

The Commanding General, therefore, earnestly exhorts the 
troops to abstain, with most scrupulous care, from unnecessary or 
wanton injury to private property ; and he enjoins upon all officers 
to arrest and bring to summary punishment all who shall in any 
way offend against the orders on this subject. 

E. B. Lee, General. 

The reader will perceive in this address some pleasing and 
honourable sentiments; although the distinction appears to have 
been clouded in Gen. Lee's mind, between retaliation in hind, and 
such severe and regular retribution as might have been visited 
upon the enemy by acts of war; such as devastating the country 
in line of battle, without endangering the morale of his troops, and 
running counter to the charges of irregular pillage and brigandish 
atrocities. Such devastations of the enemy's country, the Confed- 
erate public had expected ; and, while Gen. Lee professed to yield 
much to the temper of the South in the project of invasion, he 
might have reflected that the main object of the popular desire for 
such a measure was to visit upon the enemy, not necessarily the 
exact repetition of his atrocities, but the severest penalties of war 
that could be executed under the authority of superiours, without 
risk to the discipline of the army, and without contravention of the 
just practices of a provoked invasion. But these were not his 
views ; and even the commonest penalties of war were unexpectedly 
spared the people of Pennsylvania.* 

* Of the extreme forbearance of Confederate soldiers in Pennsylvania, abundant 
evidence may be gathered even from the most violent newspapers printed in the 
North, The following is quoted from a Northern account of the proceedings of Jen- 
kins' cavalry : — " By way of giving the devil his due, it must be said, that although 
there were over sixty acres of wheat, and eighty acres of corn and oats in the same 
field, he (Gen. Jenkins) protected it most carefully, and picketed his horses so that 
it could not be injured. No fences were wantonly destroyed, poultry was not dis- 
turbed, nor did he compliment our blooded cattle so much as to test the quality of 
their steak and roasts. Some of his men cast a wistful eye upon the ghsteniug trout 
in the spring ; but they were protected by voluntary order ; and, save a few quarts of 
delicious strawberries, gathered with every care, after first asking permission, noth- 
ing in the gardens or about the grounds was taken." 

An intercepted letter from a Confederate ofiBcer to his wife in Virginia, which 
found its way into Northern newspapers, contained the following : " I felt, when I 
first came here, that I would like to revenge myself upon these people for the devas- 
tation they have brought upon our own beautiful home ; that home where we could 



108 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

In the Northern newspapers an account was given by a mill- 
owner of Pennsylvania, of a conversation with Gen. Lee, in which 
occurred the following: "It is not that we love the Pennsylva- 
nians," observed Lee, " that we refuse to let our men engage in 
plundering private citizens. We could not otherwise keep up the 
morale of the army. A rigid discipline must be maintained, or the 
men would be worthless." "In fact," adds this mill-owner, "I 
must say that they acted like gentlemen, and, their cause aside, I 
would rather have forty thousand rebels quartered on my premises 
than one thousand Union troops. The Colonel of one of the New 
York regiments (militia) drove his horse into the engine-room of my 
mill, a place which must be kept as clean as a parlour ; the men 
broke all the locks, and defiled every apartment from basement to 
garret. Yet all this time I have been quartering sick Federal 
officers at my house, and my new hotel is thrown open to the men 
to sleep in, free of charge." 

"I told Gen. Lee," continues this correspondent, "that the 
South must give it up ; that the North would fight it out rather 
than see the country broken in two, and that their invasion of 
Pennsylvania was a great mistake." " What would you do," re- 
plied the General, "if you were in our place?" Here he produced 
copies of the Richmond papers, which complained so bitterly about 
the war being waged in the South, while it ought to be carried into 
the Free States. 

But we must return to the movements of the two armies, which 
were now approaching the greatest crisis of the war. The day 
Gen. Lee issued at Chambersburg the order just referred to, 
Hooker relinquished the command of the Federal army, which he 
had now marched to Frederick in Maryland ; and Gen. Meade, 
who succeeded him, having ascertained the general direction of 
Lee's march, at once put his columns in motion by the inner line 
from Frederick towards Harrisburg. But he had ascertained some- 
thing more. Whilst reconnoitring the passes of South Mountain, 

have lived so happily, and Ihat we loved so much, from wliicli their VandaHsm has 
driven you and my helpless little ones. But though I had such severe wrongs had 
grievances to redress, and such great cause for revenge, yet when I got among these 
people, I could not find in my heart to molest them. They looked so dreadfully 
scared, and talked so humbly, that I have invariably endeavoured to protect their 
property, and have prevented soldiers from taking chickens, even in the main road." 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 109 

Capt. Dahlgren — the same who afterwards made a murderous raid 
on Eichmond — had captured an orderly carrying an important 
dispatch from President Davis to Gen. Lee, in which the former 
stated his disapproval of the advance into Pennsylvania, throw- 
ing the responsibility of it entirely on Lee, and informing him 
that he could expect no reinforcements, as Richmond was almost 
stripped of troops ; also that no assistance could be furnished by 
Beauregard from South Carolina, as his hands were full, and he 
could not spare a man. This dispatch afforded a new encourage- 
ment to the enemy, and gave him the important assurance that 
Washington could not be threatened by any forces remaining in 
"Virginia. 

It had been Gen, Lee's idea, not that Gen. Beauregard should 
get a force for active operations, but that he should merely collect 
the semblance of an army at Gordonsville, announce his head- 
quarters there, etc., so as to distract the enemy's attention, and 
continue his anxiety for Washington. In this respect he was mis- 
understood and disappointed by Richmond authorities. But a 
greater mishap had already befallen him, and compelled him 
practically to relinquish the campaign. 

When Gen. Lee crossed the Potomac from the Shenandoah 
Valley, the plainest orders had been given to Stuart's cavalry 
column, left on the east side of the Blue Ridge, to watch the 
enemy, keep on his left flank, and maintain constant communica- 
tions with Lee, so as to develop the enemy's designs. Now it hap- 
pened that Stuart had not followed these orders, but crossing the 
Potomac at Seneca, below where Hooker crossed, found the entire 
Federal army interposed between him and Lee, and finally resolved 
to make a circuit of it by way of Westminster and Carlisle. Un- 
aware of this disappointment of the most essential part of his plans. 
Gen. Lee had marched on day after day, inquiring ceaselessly after 
his lieutenant. His anxiety was extreme ; all his staff-officers ob- 
served the troubled look in his face, as day after day, and at last 
hour after hour, he inquired for " news from Stuart." The phrase 
at headquarters was : " We are hungry for cavalry." Gen. Lee 
had depended upon Stuart for information of the enemy's move- 
ments ; he had designed an advance upon Harrisburg ; but when 
he headed his columns to cross the Susquehanna, there was still 
no news of Stuart, and no information of the movements of the 



110 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

enemy. The situation was one in which Gen. Lee found himself 
in the mountains of Pennsylvania, with the eyes of his army put out, 
not knowing where the enemy was, or where would be the field 
of battle, compelled to grope his way to whatever issue accidents 
might determine. It was in these circumstances that he deter- 
mined to relinquish his hold on the Susquehanna, to look after his 
routes of retreat on the east side of the South Mountain range, 
and to find the enemy in order to bring him to a battle. With 
this view, Ewell was recalled from the demonstration on. Harris- 
burg, and the several corps ordered to march towards Gettysburg. 
It will surprise the reader to learn that when this movement was 
made, Gen. Lee was actually ignorant that Hooher had crossed the 
Potomac, and was compelled to turn from, his designs on the Susque- 
hanna river, to hunt the enemy up for battle! Such were the disas- 
trous results of the absence of Stuart's cavalry. And in such 
circumstances the battle of Gettysburg had all the moral effect of 
a surprise for the Confederates.* 

On the 1st July Heth's division of Hill's corps, moving towards 
Gettysburg, became engaged near the town with the enemy's ad- 
vance, Eeynolds' corps. Gen. Eeynolds was shot down as he rode 
forward to superintend the dispositions of his troops; and Ewell, 
coming up by the Harrisburg road, completed the disorder of the 
enemy, driving his fugitive and disorganized troops through the 
streets of Gettysburg with heavy loss, including about five thou- 
sand prisoners and several pieces of artillery. The success was not 
followed beyond the town ; the broken Federal divisions were 
re-formed on a high range of hills south and east of Gettj-sburg; 
and the attack of the Confederates, which might have easily pushed 
this routed detachment of the enemy beyond this critical position, 
was recalled as the sun inclined to the horizon. Gen. Lee had had 
the opportunity of getting possession of these heights, instead of 

* In Gen. Lee's oflBcial report he makes no complaint of the disappointment of the 
campaign by the absence of Stuart's cavalry column ; and, iudeed, tliis circumstance 
was, until recently, lost to history. Gen. Lee was always very abstinent of censure 
of his ofBcers ; and he once remarked that he could never consider himself at liberty 
to make a reference in his official reports to a fault of an officer, unless it had been 
found and established by a court-martial. Despite Gen. Stuart's abundant record of 
glorious services, he is said to have deeply regretted his failure to get his cavalry in 
position to serve as designed in the campaign, and to have been affected by the 
disappointment to the day of his death. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. Ill 

being forced to fight the succeeding days on a sunken parallel, 
under every disadvantage of position. But the opportunity slipped 
away in the darkness of one night ; and Gen. Meade, who had in 
fact laid out a different line of battle, being advised of the singular 
advantages of the new position overlooking Gettysburg, pressed 
forward the bulk of his army, and on the morning of the 2d July 
had all his forces concentrated in the strongest position that had 
ever been taken by either army in the war. 

But it was no fault of Lee's generalship that he had been thus 
anticipated, and the table of position turned upon him ; it was'but 
another consequence of the circumstances which fettered him in 
the absence of his cavalry. It must be remembered that when he 
recalled the attack of the preceding evening, he was completely in 
the dark as to the movements and dispositions of the enemy's 
forces ; his army was not concentrated ; it was at a great distance 
from its base ; he was uncertain of the numbers of his opponents; 
he was unable, by reason of the nature of the ground, to ascertain 
their exact position ; and in these circumstances it would have 
been the height of imprudence to have risked, in the late hours of 
the day, an attack upon what might have been the whole Federal 
army. 

But while Gen. Lee is thus cleared of the censure, which popu- 
lar opinion sometimes attached to him, of having allowed the 
enemy to take at leisure an almost impregnable position in the 
face of his victorious divisions, the more serious question remains, 
why he should have risked a battle after the enemy had secured 
an advantage so decisive, and in view of what were now the un- 
equal circumstances of the field. In his official report he has given 
a partial statement of the reasons which determined him to deliver 
battle. He says: "It had not been intended to fight a general 
battle at such distance from our base, unless attacked by the 
enemy; but finding ourselves unexpectedly confronted by the 
Federal arm}^ it became a matter of difficulty to withdraw through 
the mountains with our large trains. At the same time the country 
was unfavourable for collecting supplies while in the presence of 
the enemy's main body, as he was enabled to restrain our foraging 
parties by occuping the passes of the mountains with regular and 
local troops. A battle thus became, in a measure, unavoidable. 
Encouraged by the successful issue of the first day, and in view of 



112 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

the valuable results which would ensue from the defeat of the 
army of General Meade, it was thought advisable to renew the 
attack." 

The fact is, the difficulties of retreat was an inferiour considera- 
tion, in Gen. Lee's mind, to others which he hints in his official 
word. Those difficulties were not insuperable. Gen. Longstreet 
was opposed to the risk of attack at Gettysburg, and proposed to 
manoeuvre Meade out of his position by a march on Frederick, 
threatening Washington. But the confidence of Gen. Lee in his 
troops, inspired by the results of the first day, overruled all other 
considerations; he felt that the temper of his men justified almost 
any enterprise ; he had promised a repetition in Pennsylvania of 
the victories that had so often crowned their arms in Virginia ; and 
witnessing the enthusiasm of his men, he could not bear to shock 
their expectations and to abandon his own towering hopes by 
declining battle, and changing the bold policy of invasion to a 
campaign of manoeuvres. 

It was the animus and inspiration of the invasion that deter- 
mined him to attack. In the morning of the 2d July, his line of 
battle was formed : Ewell occupying the left, A. P. Hill the centre, 
and Longstreet the right. The battle raged with unexampled 
fury. Longstreet broke the first part of the enemy's line in his 
front, and made one of those mortal struggles, rare in war, for the 
possession of " Pound Top " — a steep hill, the key of the enemy's 
position. The opposing forces were clinched here in close contest. 
It was, as Longstreet describes it, fighting "belly to belly." He 
gained some ground, and once some of his brigades were in tempo- 
rary possession of the prize, but unable to hold it for want of a 
timely reinforcement. On the left, Ewell had thrust himself within 
the breastworks of the enemy, and gained some important posi- 
tions, but the chief action of the day had been borne by Longstreet's 
corps and a part of Anderson's division of Hill's corps ; and 
although the force had failed to obtain the coveted prize of " Round 
Top," it had carried the whole front of the enemy on which Sickles' 
ill-fated corps had been drawn, and night found the advantage on 
the side of the Confederates. 

The next day the fiery drama was resumed at noon. Gen 
Lee's plan of attack had been previously directed against both 
flanks of the enemy's position, but he now altered his determina- 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 113 

tion, and resolved to assault Meade's centre, under cover of a heavy 
fire of artillery. More than 100 guns of the batteries of Long- 
street's and Hill's corps opened a simultaneous fire, whilst Ewell's 
artillery, from the neighbourhood of Gettysburg, played on the 
slopes of Cemetery Hill. The Federal batteries replied, and for 
the space of two hours, a cannonade, whose volume had not yet 
been equalled in the war, thundered in the narrow valley separat- 
ing the two armies. The Confederate columns of attack were 
formed on the edge of the woods, Pickett's division to lead the 
van, with one brigade of Hill's corps, commanded by Wilcox, on 
his right, and Heth's division under Gen. Pettigrew, on his 
left. There was an intervening space of near a mile, over not more 
than one-half of which, the Confederate artillery could protect 
the devoted troops. As they descended the hill and emerged into 
the plain, they received the fire of the enemy's artillery ; but 
through shot and shell, Pickett carried his hostile front in compact 
and magnificent order. With a steady advance that awed the 
enemy, the Virginia troops came within musketry range. The 
artillery had ploughed their ranks in vain, and the lines of Federal 
infantry, with breathless expectation, braced themselves to receive 
the impact. Buffeting the severe volleys that met it, rushing up 
the crest of Cemetery Ridge, thrusting itself within the lines of the 
enemy, the solitary division of Pickett carried the long-contested 
heights and crowned the stone wall, from which had leaped so 
many messengers of death, with the battle-flags of the Confederacy. 
But, under the quick, desperate volleys of the enemy's musketry, 
and as the last fringe of fire blazed along the stone wall, Petti- 
grew's division had faltered, and was now in retreat ; Wilcox's 
command had not attacked in time ; and Pickett's division 
remained alone " a solid lance-head of Virginia troops tempered in 
the fire of battle." It only remained to consult safety where a 
moment before it had won success, and to withdraw from what 
were now desperate straits, whicli might have been the breach 
of a decisive victory. As the shattered column of Pickett 
returned to its lines on Seminary Ridge, Gen. Lee saw that the 
day was lost. 

He had watched the battle from a hill in rear of Gen. Hill's 
position ; and when he witnessed the fatal recoil, he saw at once the 
necessity of providing against a counter-attack of the enemy, and 

8 



114: GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

displaying, in these terrible moments, the confidence and self-pos- 
session by which alone he could now hope to save his army. Never 
was be more sublime, more forgetful of self, more perfect in tem- 
per, as in this one hour of great misfortune and terrible danger. 
Among the throng of disrupted troops he rode quite alone, calm in 
manner, kind in voice, comforting the wounded, and encouraging 
the oflScers dispirited by the reverse. He exclaimed, repeatedly, 
"It's all my fault! " His presence, his generous words, kindled a 
new inspiration ; the disorder was quickly remedied ; and as suc- 
cessive detachments were formed in the woods, they were quietly 
brought forward, and placed in positions to resist the attack which 
all considered imminent. The men were ordered to lie down in 
the woods, to await the attack. Presently a prolonged cheer arose 
from the Federal lines. It was thought to be the painful signal of 
another battle ; but it proved to be only the greeting awarded Gen. 
Meade, as he rode along the lines, in full sense and satisfaction of 
the victory he had won. 

The 4th of July, heretofore the most joyful and proudest of 
American anniversaries, was spent in burying the thousands of 
dead that strewed an arena of civil war, and cursed with fraternal 
slaughter what had once been a valley of beautiful and supreme 
peace. More than 16,000 killed and wounded Federals had fallen 
on that field. On the Confederate side, the casualties were scarcely 
less, while their loss in prisoners was considerably greater than that 
of the enemy. Gen. Lee, so far from being in a condition to renew 
the conflict, was at the extremity of fear for the safety of his army ; 
his ammunition was nearly exhausted, and the Potomac was report- 
ed to be rising, from recent freshets, so as to cut off his chances of 
retreat. In the night of the 5th July, he commenced his fearful 
retreat, compelled to leave many of his wounded behind ; and by 
daylight his rear column had left Gettysburg, without interruption 
from the enemy. On reaching the Potomac he found, as he had 
feared, his retreat barred by the rise of the river ; and until the 12th 
July, his desperate army remained in line of battle at Williams- 
port. But the timidity of the enemy, which appeared to be con- 
sequent on all his victories, or rather that weak characteristic fear 
of a mediocre commander, which fears to spoil ^clat already won, 
by the possibility of a reverse, and stops half-way in success, saved 
Gen. Lee from the fearful trial of another battle; and, eventually, 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. ll5 

in face of the hesitating Federals, his pontoon bridges being com- 
pleted, he crossed the river, was again in Virginia, and by leisurely 
movements succeeded in planting his suffering and diminished army 
on the banks of the Eapidan. His scheme of invasion had been 
baulked and brought to naught; he had sustained a severe defeat; 
but he had reason to congratulate himself that he had extricated 
his army, which the whole Northern public had waited to hear 
would be cut off by Meade, as the crowning prize of his campaign. 
" The fruit seemed so ripe, so ready for plucking," said President 
Lincoln, " that it was very hard to lose it." 



116 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Decline of the fortunes of the Confederacy. — Operations in the autumn of 1863. — 
Gen. Lee's patriotic exhortation to his troops. — His great care for them. — Meeting 
of the chaplains in his army. — Relations between General Lee and his troops. — 
His habits on the battle-field. — Intercourse with his men. — Simplicity of his man- 
ners. — His feelings towards the public enemy. — How he rebuked a Tankee-pho- 
hist. — Sufferings of the Confederate troops. — Commissary Northrop. — General Lee 
demands food for his troops. — Touching address to his half-starved men. — Anec- 
dote of Gen. Lee and his cook. — Personal recollections of the great commander. 
— An EngUsh officer's description of his person and habits. 

The recoil at Gettysburg marked a period when the Southern 
fortunes commenced to decline, and on its disastrous field was buried 
much of the former prestige of the Army of Northern Virginia. 
But the army had saved itself and its honour, if it had not done all 
that popular admiration had predicted for it; and it obtained at 
least the advantage of several months' repose. It was not in mo- 
tion again until October, and the remainder of the year was con- 
sumed by a campaign of manoeuvres, which, as it was generally 
without result, we need not give in detail here. An attempted 
flank march on Centreville, by which Gen. Lee aimed to get be- 
tween Meade and Washington, was anticipated by the enemy, and 
proved a failure ; and in the month of November the enemy ap- 
peared to make a retaliatory signal of attack, advancing, and 
crossing the Rapidan at several points. Gen. Lee, noticing the 
movement, issued the following general order, in which his patriotic 
exhortation and appeal to the army were expressed in words of 
more than usual urgency and power : 

" The enemy is again advancing upon our capital, and the 
country once more looks to this army for its protection. Under 
the blessings of God, your valour has repelled every previous at- 
tempt, and, invoking the continuance of His favour, we cheerfully 
commit to Him the issue of the coming contest. 

" A cruel enemy seeks to reduce our fathers and our mothers, 
our wives and our children, to abject slavery ; to strip them of 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 117 

their property, and drive them from their homes. Upon you these 
helpless ones rely to avert these terrible calamities, and to secure 
to them the blessings of liberty and safety. Your past history 
gives them the assurance that their trust will not be in vain. Let 
every man remember that all he holds dear depends upon the faith- 
ful discharge of his duty, and resolve to fight, and if need be to 
die, in defence of a cause so sacred and worthy the name won by 
this army on so many bloody fields." 

But the expected battle did not occur; Meade's plan of action 
came to an abortive issue, and, in a few days, he withdrew across 
the Eapidan, and resumed his old camps. Both armies went into 
winter-quarters ; and Gen. Lee, who was always busy in the inter- 
vals of action in recruiting and improving his army, again 
addressed himself to the usual tasks of winter, providing for the 
comfort of his men, and corresponding with the War Department 
at Eichmond on the many needs of the military service. 

It is interesting to observe how the religious interests of his 
men were attended to by a commander who appears to have taken 
into his heart every comfort and care of the soldiers he com- 
manded, and to have omitted nothing from his scheme of welfare. 
In November, all the chaplains of Gen. Lee's army held a meet- 
ing or convention in the camps on the Eapidan, to invoke the God 
of Battles, and to consult about their spiritual cares. Most inter- 
esting reports were made, showing a high state of religious feeling 
throughout the army. At a later day, in his winter-quarters, Gen. 
Lee appointed a day of " fasting, humiliation, and prayer ; " 
requiring military duties to be suspended, and desiring the chap- 
lains to hold divine service in their regiments and brigades. A 
correspondent of the Eichmond Dispatch said: "The great suc- 
cess of Gen. Lee's army is due to the religious element which 
reaches every corner of it ; whilst, on the other hand, I am very 
much disposed to fear, from what I have been told by officers who 
have served in the Army of Tennessee, that the lack of success of 
that army is due, in a large measure, to the want of religious influ- 
ence upon the troops," 

The task of reorganizing and inspiriting his army, after the 
most arduous campaigns, was one in which Gen. Lee was more 
successful than any other Confederate commander. And while 
engaged in this work, preparatory to the great spring campaign of 



118 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

1864, it will be convenient for us to pause here to make some esti- 
mate of the commander for which the accounts of so many battles 
already fought will prepare the reader, and to explain those rela,- 
tions to his army in which he was so fortunate and powerful. 

A great element of Gen. Lee's popularity in his army was his 
exceeding, almost paternal, care for his men. It is a remarkable 
circumstance that he never harangued his troops on a battle-field ; 
he employed but little of rhetoric, and was innocent of theatrical 
machinery in maintaining the resolution and spirit of his army. 
He was never a conspicuous figure in the field of battle. His 
habit was to consult the plan of battle thoroughly ; assign to each 
corps commander his precise work, and leave the active conduct 
of the field to his lieutenant-generals, unless in some case of criti- 
cal emergency. He but seldom gave an order on the field of bat- 
tle. It is indeed remarkable that with such little display of his 
person, and with a habit bordering on taciturnity. Gen. Lee should 
have obtained such control over the affections of men whom he 
tried not only by constant battle but by tests of hardship, priva- 
tion and suffering, and by a measure of general endurance such as 
has not been applied to any army of modern times. 

But his intercourse with his army was peculiar. He mingled 
with the troops on every proper occasion ; he spoke a few simple 
words here and there to the wounded and distressed soldier ; and 
his kindliness of manner was so unaffected that it at once gained 
the confidence and touched the heart. lie had a rare gift, which 
many persons copy or affect, but which can never be perfectly pos- 
sessed unless by a great man and a true gentleman — a voice whose 
tones of politeness never varied, whether uttered to the highest 
or lowest in rank. His men not only felt a supreme confidence in 
his judgment as a commander, but they were conscious every- 
where of his sympathy with their sufferings, and his attention to 
their wants; and they therefore accepted every sacrifice and trial as 
inevitable necessity imposed upon them by a paternal hand. In 
those long and weary marches which try the patience of the sol- 
dier, he would not allow the men to be hurried without necessity, 
gave them sufficient opportunities for rest and refreshment, and 
would inquire among them at the end of the day how they had stood 
the march, and receive any suggestions for making that of the next 
day less irksome. When the march was necessarily a hard one, it 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 119 

was his custom to send back couriers, when the point aimed at was 
near at hand, to encourage his weary men with the intelligence. 

The habits of Gen. Lee was those of a thorough soldier, and all 
that men can require in the assurance that their commander shares 
with them the hardships of war. On a march, when camping out, 
he did not, as some of his brigade commanders did, select the finest 
dwelling-house in the neighbourhood of his camp, and insist upon 
the occupant entertaining himself and staff. It was only when he 
had established headquarters at a place where he was likely to 
remain some time, that he sought the protection of a house. He 
dressed without unnecessary display of his rank ; he endui'ed the 
commonest hardships without the affectation that calls attention to 
them ; and in the sincere simplicity of his manners he afforded 
an example how readily even the much-abused populace will distin- 
guish between the arts of the demagogue and the virtues of the 
man. 

In all his official intercourse and private conversation Gen. 
Lee never breathed a vindictive sentiment towards the enemy 
who so severely taxed his resources and ingenuity, and put against 
him so many advantages in superiour means and numbers. lie had 
none of that Yankee-phohia common in the Southern army ; he 
spoke of the Northern people without malevolence, and in a style 
that deprecated their political delusions rather than denounced their 
crimes ; and he generally referred to the enemy in quiet and indif- 
ferent words, quite in contrast to the epithets and anathemas which 
were popularly showered on "the Yankees." On one occasion, a 
spectator describes him riding up to the Eockbridge Artillery, 
which was fiercely engaging the enemy, and greeting his son 
Eobert, who as a private soldier was bravely working one of the 
guns. "How d'ye do, father?" was all that Robert had to say as 
he continued his duty at his gun ; and Gen. Lee replied quietly : 
" That's right, my son ; drive those people back."* At another time, 



* Gen. Lee had three sons, all of whom did hard and noble service in the Confed- 
erate army. Brig.-Gen. G. W. Custis Lee, was for some time aide-de-camp to the 
President, and held part of the Richmond defences ; Maj.-Gen. W. H. P Lee com- 
manded a division of cavalry in the Army of Northerh Virginia : and Robert 
Edward Lee, to whom we have referred as a private in the Rockbridge Artillery, 
was afterwards on the staff of Gen, Fitzhugh Lee, a son of Commodore Lee, and 
nephew of the great commander. 



120 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

in siglit of the enemy on the Rapidan, Gen. Lee was standing near 
his lines, conversing with two of his officers, one of whom was 
known to be not only a hard fighter and a hard swearer, but a 
cordial hater of the Yankees. After a silence of some moments, 
the latter ofiicer, looking at the Yankees with a dark scowl on his 
face, exclaimed most emphatically, " I wish they were all dead." 
Gen. Lee, with the grace and manner peculiar to himself, replied, 
" How can you say so. General ! Now I wish they were all at 
home, attending to their own business, and leaving us to do 
the same." He then moved off, when the first speaker waiting 
until he was out of earshot, turned to his companion, and in the 
most earnest tone said, " I would not say so before Gen. Lee, but I 
wish they were all dead and in helW'' When this " amendment" 
to the wish was afterwards repeated to Gen. Lee, in spite of his 
goodness and customary reproof of profanity, he could not refrain 
from laughing heartily at the speech, which was so characteristic 
of one of his favourite officers. 

The greatest suffering of Confederate troops was in the article 
of food ; and on this subject Gen. Lee exhibited especial care, and 
exhausted every possible appeal to the proper authorities. He was 
constantly writing to Richmond of the deficiency of food in his 
army ; he experienced here the greatest difficulty of his campaigns ; 
and he appears never to have convinced the dull brain of the gov- 
ernment, of the vital importance of a concern which lacerated his 
sensibilities, weighed down his energies, depleted the army by 
"absenteeism," and contributed largely to the final catastrophe of 
his arms. In the first winter of his campaign in Northern Vir- 
ginia, he recommended that an appeal should be made to the peo- 
ple to bring food to the army, to feed their sons and brothers. But 
the plan was overruled by Commissary Northrop, who put on it a 
curt and impertinent indorsement, that as he had no acquaintance 
with that means of maintaining an army (the patriotic contribu- 
tions of the people), he could not recommend the adoption of Gen. 
Lee's suggestion. In the spring of 1863, Gen. Lee appears to have 
been more deeply concerned in this matter, and wrote a remark- 
able letter to the government at Richmond. He stated that his 
men had each, daily, but a quarter-pound of meat, and sixteen 
ounces of flour ; they had, besides, one pound of rice to every ten 
men, two or three times a week ; and he plainly declared that such 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 121 

rations might sustain life in his men, but if thej were expected to 
keep the field, thej must have more generous food. But this was 
only the beginning of trials and sufferings which culminated in 
later periods of the war, when, for days, Lee's army was entirely 
without meat, and the supply of bread, even, was in danger. That 
these deficiences were the result of culpable neglect in Eichmond, 
appears to have been the persistent opinion of Gen. Lee, as there is 
a letter from him as late as December, 1864, declaring his judgment 
that, even then, there were supplies enough in the country, if the 
proper means were used to procure them. 

There is no more noble and touching appeal to his army than 
that made by Gen. Lee in the bitter winter that preceded the 
mighty campaign of 1864 in Virginia, when the destitute and half- 
starved troops found themselves in almost the last extremity of 
suffering. In this dark period, he issued the following proclama- 
tion, expressive of proud congratulation and noble encouragement : 

Headqpaktees Army op Northern Vibginta, 
January 22, 1864. 

The Commanding General considers it due to the army to state 
that the temporary reduction of rations has been caused by circum- 
stances beyond the control of those charged with its support. Its 
welfare and comfort are the objects of his constant and earnest 
solicitude, and no effort has been spared to provide for its wants. 
It is hoped that the exertions now being made will render the 
necessity but of short duration ; but the history of the army has 
shown that the country can require no sacrifice too great for its 
patriotic devotion. 

Soldiers ! you tread, with no unequal steps, the I'oad by which 
your fathers marched through suffering, privation, and blood, to 
independence. 

Continue to emulate in the future, as you have in the past, their 
valour in arms, their patient endurance of hardships, their high 
resolve to be free ; which no trial could shake, no bribe seduce, no 
danger appall ; and be assured that the just God who crowned their 
efforts with success, will, in His own good time, send down His 
blessings upon yours. 

R E. Lee, Oeneral. 

In the article of food, as in other things, Gen. Lee appears to 



122 GENERAL EGBERT EDWARD LEE. 

have uniformly shared the distress of his men, and to have claimed 
for headquarters no exemption from the common lot of the army. 
His scanty meals were the occasions of some thoughtless jokes, and 
many comic anecdotes. In his tent, meat was eaten but twice a 
week. His ordinary dinner consisted of a head of cabbage, boiled 
in salt water, and a pone of corn bread. The story is jocosely told 
that on one occasion, a number of gentlemen having appointed to 
dine with him, he had ordered his servant to provide a repast of 
cabbage and middling. A very small bit of middling garnished 
the dish ; so small that the polite guests all declined middling, and 
it remained on the dish when they rose from the table. Next day, 
the General, remembering the untouched meat, ordered his servant 
to bring " that middling." The man hesitated, scratched his head, 
and finally said: "De fac is, mass'r Eobert, dat ar middlin' was 
borrid middlin,' and I done giv it back to de man whar 1 got it 
from." 

Gen. Lee never allowed familiarity ; but he was of that dignity 
that rather disarmed than repulsed it. Yet to those immediately 
around htm he often spoke in a simple, playful speech, that was 
quite charming. An aide relates of him, that just before the battle 
of Chancellorsville, when the army was alert for action, he entered 
Gen. Lee's tent with a hurried message that the enemy was sup- 
posed to be crossing the river about Fredericksburg. Gen. Lee 
replied: "Well, I heard firing, and I was beginning to think it 
was time some of you lazy young fellows were coming to tell me 
what it w^as all about. Say to Gen. Jackson that he knows just as 
well what to do with the enemy as I do." When Jackson was 
prostrated with his wound that unexpectedly proved mortal. Gen. 
Lee sent him a number of kindly messages in his peculiarly simple 
and affectionate words. " Give him," he said in his half-playful 
and tender manner, " my affectionate regards, and tell him to make 
haste and get well, and come back to me as soon as he can. He 
has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right arm." At another 
time, hearing of the threatening change in the condition of the 
sufferer, he said with great feeling: "Surely Gen. Jackson must 
recover. God will not take him from us, now that we need him so 
much. Surely he will be spared to us, in answer to the many 
prayers which are offered for him." He afterwards added: 
*' When you return, I trust you will find him better. When a 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 123 

suitable occasion offers, give liim my love, and tell him that I 
wrestled in prayer for him last night, as I never prayed, I believe, 
for myself" 

We have already referred to Gen, Lee's noble and collected 
behaviour on the field of Gettysburg. An Euglish colonel, who 
observed him closely on that momentous occasion, has made such 
a characteristic relation, that every one will recognize in it the 
manner and words of Gen. Lee, especially his simple and unaffected 
way of talking to his men. This writer says: "I joined Gen. 
Lee, who had, in the meanwhile, come to the front on becoming 
aware of the disaster. Gen. Lee was perfectly sublime. He was 
engaged in rallying and encouraging the broken troops, and was rid- 
ing about, a little in front of the wood, quite alone — the whole of his 
staff being engaged in a similar manner further to the rear. His 
face, which is always placid and cheerful, did not show signs of the 
slightest disappointment, care, or annoyance, and he was address- 
ing to every soldier he met a few words of encouragement, such 
as, ' All this will come right in the end ; we'll talk it over after- 
wards ; but, in the meantime, all good men must rally. We 
want all good and true men just now,' etc. He spoke to all 
the wounded men that passed him, and the slightly wounded he 
exhorted to 'bind up their hurts and take up a musket' in this 
emergency. Very few failed to answer his appeal, and I saw 
many badly wounded men take off their hats and cheer him. 

" There was a man lying flat on his face, in a small ditch, 
groaning dismally ; Gen, Lee's attention was drawn to him, and 
he at once appealed to the man's patriotism to arouse himself, but 
finding such to be of no avail, he had him ignominiously set on 
his legs, by some neighbouring gunners. 

" Gen. Wilcox now came up to him, and, in very depressed 
tones of annoyance and vexation, explained the state of his brigade. 
But Gen. Lee immediately shook hands with him, and said, in 
a cheerful manner, ' Never mind, General. All this has been 
my fault. It is I that have lost this fight, and you must help me 
out of it the best way you can.' Tn this mannner did Gen. Lee, 
wholly ignoring self and position, encourage and reanimate his 
somewhat dispirited troops, and magnanimously take upon his own 
shoulders the whole weight of the repulse. It was impossible to 
look at him, or to listen to him, without feeling the strongest" 



124 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

admiration, and I never saw any man fail him, except the man in 
the ditch." 

The same writer (Col. Fremantle) has made the following 
description of the person and habits of the great and beloved 
Confederate commander : " Gen. Lee is, almost without exception, 
the handsomest man of his age I ever saw. He is tall, broad- 
shouldered, very well made, well set up — a thorough soldier in 
appearance — and his manners are most courteous, and full of 
dignity. He is a perfect gentleman in every respect. I imagine 
no man has so few enemies, or is so universally esteemed. 
Throughout the South all agree in pronouncing him as near per- 
fection as a man can be. He has none of the small vices, such as 
smoking, drinking, chewing, or swearing ; and his bitterest enemy 
never accused him of any of the greater ones. He generally wears 
a well-worn, long, gray jacket, a high, black felt hat, and blue 
trowsers, tucked into his Wellington boots. I never saw him 
carry arms ; and the only marks of his military rank are the three 
stars on his collar. He rides a handsome horse, which is extremely 
well groomed. He himself is very neat in his dress and person ; 
and in the most arduous' marches he always looks smart and 
clean." 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 125 



CHAPTER X. 

Opening of the great campaign of 1864. — Precise account of Gon. Lee's plans. — He 
acts with his accustomed boldness, and takes the offensive. — Actions of the 5th 
and 6th May. — General Lee determines to lead a critical assault. — Protest of the 
soldiers. — Grant resorts to manoeuvre. — Spottsylvania Court-House. — General Lee 
again in the extreme front of his men. — A thriUing spectacle. — Heroic action of 
Gordon. — " Gen. Lee to the rear ! " — Account of the strategy from Spottsylvania 
Court-Houso to the vicinity of Richmond. — Grant on the old battle-iield of Mc- 
Clellan. — His army defeated in ten minutes at Cold Harbour. — His losses in one 
month exceed Lee's whole army. — Precise statement of the odds against Gen. 
Lee. — Reflections on the nature and degrees of generalship. — Comparison of the 
two rival commanders of the North and South. 

The most terrible campaign that had yet happened in Virginia 
took place when the Federal army, numbering from one 'hundred 
and fifty to two hundred thousand men, under U. S. Grant, now 
acclaimed the hero of the North, and the little army of Lee, con- 
sisting of not one-third of that number, of all arms, with diminished 
strength, but unabashed front, came into the grand collision of the 
war, and upstarting in the days of spring, faced each other on the 
lines of the Rapidan. 

At midnight of the 8d May, 1864, Grant commenced his ad- 
vance in two columns, crossing the river at Germanna and Ely's 
Fords, and designing a turning movement on the right flank of the 
Confederate line. The passage of the Rapidan was not disputed by 
Lee. His army was positioned in echelon from the river to Gor- 
donsville — the corps of Longstreet being near the latter place, that 
of Hill in the vicinity of Orange Court-House, and that of Ewell 
stretching thence towards the Rapidan, in the direction of Raccoon 
Ford — and he immediately determined on a rapid concentration 
of his forces so as to give battle before the enemy emerged from 
the Wilderness, thus taking the offensive where Grant had expected 
him to fall back. The movement was characteristic of Gen. Lee, 
and displayed his accustomed boldness in seizing the opportunity 
of attack ; there was no hesitation when he found his flank turned, 



126 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

no thought of retreat ; but an instant determination to make a 
rapid change of front, and fall upon the enemy before he should 
have time, by a march beyond the Wilderness, to lay hold of the 
Confederate communications with Richmond. 

Such was the theory of the battle. In the morning of the 5th 
May, E well's corps, moving by the old turnpike, and Hill's by the 
plank-road, were in close proximity to the enemy's line of march. 
The action commenced by Ewell's advance, consisting of Johnson's 
division, making an impetuous attack on the enemy on the turn- 
pike ; it was momentarily repulsed ; but joined by Ewell's other 
divisions, it resumed the offensive, broke Warren's corps, and gave 
a severe shock to the enemy's column, entailing upon it a loss of 
above 3,000 men. Later in the day the enemy concentrated against 
Hill, who, with his own and Wilcox's divisions, successfull}' resisted 
the repeated and desperate assaults, which continued until eight 
o'clock in the night. 

Satisfied with the work of the day. Gen. Lee did not press his 
advantage, and awaited during the night the arrival of Long- 
street's corps, which had to march from Gordonsville — forty miles — 
to the scene of battle. It was appointed that Longstreet, on his 
arrival, should come upon the right flank of Hill's corps ; but 
before he got into position, the enemy renewed his heaviest attack 
on that part of the line, and for a time carried away the whole 
hostile front, throwing Hill's division into confusion, and driving 
them back more than a mile. It appeared that the enemy was 
about to snatch a great victory ; but, at the height of Hill's con- 
fused retreat, the head of Longstreet's division came upon the 
ground. There was now a pause on the enemy's side ; a rehabili- 
tation of the Confederate line, and then again, with a new breadth 
and weight, the battle was restored. But in the fury of the onset, 
which drove Hancock's corps back, and while Longstreet prepared 
for a decisive blow on his flank, he fell severely wounded, as he 
rode forward in front of his column, from a musketry fire of his 
own flanking force. The attack was stayed ; Gen. Lee arrived to 
take charge of this critical part of the field, but precious time 
was obtained by Hancock to thoroughly reestablish his position, 
now strengthened by fresh troops sent to him. 

It was not until four o'clock in the afternoon that any new 
demonstration was made on the part of the Confederates. About 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 127 

that time, Gren. Lee, having got well in hand the troops of Long- 
street and Hill, prepared to make a desperate assault upon the 
enemy's intrenched position, where Hancock had taken refuge 
under the pressure of the former attack. At this anxious moment 
he expressed a determination to lead the assault himself ; but as he 
moved forward to take his place at the head of the troops, an 
anxious murmur ran along the lines, and grim and ragged soldiers 
refused to advance unless their beloved commander retired to a 
place of safety. The protest was one of touching solicitude ; the 
troops would not move while their commander was in the advance, 
but with shouts declared that they were ready to drive the enemy, 
and only waited for the word of command. It was given, and 
nobly did the men redeem the promise by which they had urged 
Gen. Lee's withdrawal from the post of danger. Within less than 
a hundred yards of the enemy's breastwork of logs, they delivered 
their fire, got temporary possession of the intrenchments, and only 
retired a little space under the heat and smoke of a conflagration 
which had sprung up in the woods, and was now communicated to 
the logs behind which the enemy had fought. 

This closed the main action of the day. But on the Confederate 
left, about dark, Ewell gained the last success, moving a force 
around the right flank of the wing held by a portion of the Sixth 
corps, driving the enemy in confusion through the forest, and 
capturing Brig.-Gens. Seymour and Shaler, and the greater part of 
their commands. 

The next day (7th May) the Confederates were found standing 
at bay behind their intrenchments ; and Grant, now despairing, 
after two days of bloody battle, of finishing his adversary by the 
application of brute masses in rapid and remorseless blows, i.e., ' 
"hammering continuously," determined to resort to manoeuvre, and 
to plant himself between Lee's army and Eichmond, by a move- 
ment upon Spottsylvania Court-House. When darkness came he 
began his march to this new trial of fortune. Although in the 
battles of the Wilderness Lee had not obtained a positive victory, 
yet the result was a grievous disappointment to Grant, who had 
hoped to destroy his antagonist, and who, coming to the command 
of the Army of the Potomac with the declared opinion that it had 
never fought its successes out, had expected at one blow of his 
immensely superiour numbers, and without the aid of strategy, to 



' 128 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

accomplish his work, and clear the road to Eichmond. Disillu- 
sionized by the bloody experience of two days, he was now con- 
tent to essay a new route, to attempt a strategic operation, and yet, 
in the end, to repeat the dreadful experiment of the application of 
brute masses and the competitive destruction of human life in the 
decision of the contest. 

At Spottsylvania Court-House he found Lee ready to receive 
him and his entire army, right across the path by which he must 
march to get to Eichmond. It was the repetition of the slaughter 
of the Wilderness. Of the battle which took place here, and its 
monument of carnage, the Eichmond Examiner had the following 
account : 

" Grant attempted no manoeuvre ; he relied on main strength ; 
bringing up his ten lines at a run, each one close behind another, 
and dashing them like the waves of the sea against the rocks, on 
the breastworks of the South. By these tactics, either a perfect 
victory is won, or an attacking army is lost. The first rush was 
successful on one point. The enemy broke through the blaze of 
the living volcano upon Johnson's men, leaped the works, took 
2,000 men and 10 guns. But reserves were ready, and a charge 
of greater fury than their own drove them out in brief time. 
On all other parts of the line they were entirely unsuccessful ; they 
were utterly repulsed with scarcely any loss to the Confederates, 
who fired with the advantages of rest, aim, and cover, but with a 
slaughter of the foe which is represented by universal testimony 
to have been the most terrible of modern warfare. 

" The Confederate loss, killed, wounded, and missing, in all 
these battles, beginning with the "Wilderness, and including that 
at Spottsylvania Court-House, was under 15,000. The Washington 
Chronicle, the organ of Lincoln, that sees all these things in the 
rose's colour, announces the depletion of Grant's army, by the battle 
of the Wilderness and ' other causes,' to have been on Tuesday 
evening ascertained at 35,000. To this awful figure must now be 
added the two days of unsuccessful assault on the breastworks of 
Spottsylvania — assault without manoeuvre, full in front, with deep 
columns, each forcing the other on the muzzle of the guns. 

"There are butchers of humanity, to whom the sight of their 
fellow-creatures' blood affords an intoxicating pleasure. They are 
indifferent whose blood it is, so it does not come from their veins. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 129 

And Grant is one of those charming individuals. His government 
and his Generals will not baulk him in the present instance. A 
large part of the army now in his hands is composed of the regi- 
ments enlisted for three years, and their time expires in this com- 
ing summer. They have resisted every inducement to re-enlist, 
and have formally notified the Secretary of War that they will 
obey orders so long as they are legally given, hut no longer. The 
government is entirely willing that Grant should save it the 
trouble and mortification of giving the discharge to these veterans. 
He will use them, and he is using them." 

At one time in the terrible contest of Spottsylvania, it seemed 
that the fate of Lee's army hung in the balance — the time when 
the enemy had taken a salient of the works and overrun Johnson's 
division, when Hancock sent to Grant his laconic dispatch : " I 
have finished Johnson, and am going into Early " (meaning A. P. 
Hill's corps, then commanded by Gen. Early). It was at this time 
that the quick and impetuous Gordon, commanding two brigades, 
Evans' Georgians and Pegram's Virginians, saw his opportunity 
and determined to check the enemy. His brigades were too short 
to extend across the front of attack ; but he had determined to 
make a counter-charge, and by sheer audacity stem the current of 
the battle. At this fearful moment, when the men waiting the word 
of command could hear the pulses in their hearts. Gen. Lee him- 
self was suddenly seen to ride out in front of the line, as if to lead 
the desperate charge. He took a position near the colours of the 
Fifty-ninth Virginia regiment. Not a word did he say. He simply 
took off his hat, as he reined up his gray charger. It was a spectacle 
that thrilled the senses of the men. But at this moment Gordon 
spurred his foaming horse to the front, seized the bridle-rein in the 
hand of his Commanding General, and exclaimed with passionate 
anxiety: "Gen. Lee, this is no place for you: go to the rear. 
These are Virginians and Georgians, sir — men who have never 
failed. Men, you will not fail now ! " Loud cries of " No, no ! 
Gen. Lee to the rear ! Gen. Lee to the rear ! " burst along the line. 
As his horse was guided a little way to the rear, his speaking eyes 
yet turned upon the men who carried upon their arms the trem- 
bling issues of the day, the command, " Forward ! Charge ! " rang 
out, and well did Gordon's brave troops redeem their promise ; 
rushing through bush and swamp, coming so suddenly on the first 

9 



130 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

line of Federals that they shouted " Surrender 1 " to men motion- 
less with surprise, the next moment scattering them like straw, 
pressing forward, driving everything before them, and following 
the enemy half a mile within his lines. If the charge did not ter- 
minate the day, if again the enemy rallied to the attack, yet it was 
the most powerful and dramatic incident of the field, and restored 
the spirit of the Confederate army, and recovered its position just 
as it had been pushed to the verge of a great disaster. 

The Confederate lines at Spottsylvania were but slightly broken, 
and stood firm at the close of the day. Although Grant had taken 
the field with triple Lee's numbers, he found it necessary to call for 
reinforcements. Out-generalled, beat, he was now detained a whole 
week by Lee's little army, waiting for fresh troops from Washing- 
ton. Eesolved at first to carry the Confederate positions by direct 
attack, he was willing at last to resort to manoeuvre. That man- 
oeuvre would have been easy enough in the first instance, if Grant 
had not been in love with the " hammering process," and deliber- 
ately and criminally reckless of the lives of his men. On the 21st 
May, he commenced a movement to the North Anna River, resolved 
by a turning operation to disengage Lee from a position he now 
declared to be unassailable. But Lee had already taken up a posi- 
tion here before Grant reached his new destination, and again con- 
fronted him on the path to Richmond. Here the Federal com- 
mander, defeated in the game of war, took up a new line of advance, 
and headed his army eastward and southward, to cross the Pamun- 
key River. But it was only again to encounter the Confederate 
force ready to accept the gage of battle. The whole strategy from 
Spottsylvania to the neighbourhood of Richmond, was simply a 
series of movements in which each of Grant's turning movements 
was met by a corresponding retrograde on the part of Lee, and at 
each stage of operations the two armies stood constantly face to face. 

It was thus at last that Grant found himself on the old battle- 
fields of McClellan (which he might have reached by the Peninsular 
route without loss or opposition); found Lee confronting him, 
covering the approaches to the Chickahominy ; found the cost of 
another great battle demanded to decide the experiment of securing 
the prize of the Confederate capital by an action in the field. 

The ground occupied by Gen, Lee, in the vicinity of Cold Har- 
bour, was the same as that on which McClellan had sustained his 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 131 

most decisive defeat in the battles of 1862 around Richmond ; while 
the Federal army held about the same position to which the Con- 
federates had been pushed out in the attempt to dislodge McClellan. 
In view of the relative situations of the two combatants thus revers- 
ed, it will be interesting to compare the results of the first and of 
the second battle of Cold Harbour. In the position which McClel- 
lan had failed to hold, Lee's army gained in ten minutes one of the 
most decisive victories of the war ! In the first gray light of the 
morning of the 3d June Grant advanced in full line of battle ; but 
one corps (Hancock) came in contact with the Confederate works; 
it was immediately repulsed most disastrously ; while other parts 
of the enemy's line staggered before they had got beyond their 
rifle-pits. It was the most shameful spectacle the enemy had ever 
exhibited ; more shameful than the drama of Bull Run — an entire 
army beat in ten minutes, standing stock-still in fear, its palsied 
commanders in vain issuing orders to advance, absolutely without 
power to move the demoralized and terrour-stricken mass. Mr. 
Swinton, the Northern historiographer of the Army of the Potomac, 
says : — " The action was decided in an incredibly brief time in the 
morning's assault. But, rapidly as the result was reached, it was 
decisive; for the consciousness of every man pronounced further 
assault hopeless. The troops went forward as far as the example 
of their officers could carry them ; nor was it possible to urge them 
beyond ; for there they knew lay only death, without even the 
chance of victory. The completeness with which this judgment 
had been reached by the whole army was strikingly illustrated by 
an incident that occurred during the forenoon. Some hours after 
the failure of the first assault, Gen. Meade sent instructions to each 
corps-commander to renew the attack without reference to the 
troops on his right or left. The order was issued through these 
officers to their subordinate commanders, and from them descended 
through the wonted channels ; but no man stirred, and the immo- 
bile lines pronounced a verdict, silent, yet emphatic, against further 
slaughter. The loss on the Union side in this sanguinary action 
was over thirteen thousand, while on the part of the Confederates 
it is doubtful whether it reached that many hundreds." 

It is said that Grant rode from the field slow and serious, and 
with a cast of deep thought on his face. He had probably in the 
brief space of time decided that the experiment of taking Rich- 



132 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

mond by assault was at an end, and that nothing was left for him 
but the slow results of siege-operations, wherein he would have to 
demand a new lease of Northern patience, which he had abused by 
promises to destroy Lee and to eat a patriotic dinner in Richmond 
on the Fourth of July. He had sacrificed in the experiment thus 
concluded more men than there were in Lee's whole army ; in one 
pregnant month of operations he had lost more than sixty thousand 
men ; while Lee had lost in the same time, as reported by his Ad- 
jutant-General, about eighteen thousand men, covered probably by 
the reinforcements of Beauregard, etc, and had conducted his army 
with such skill, constantly thrusting it between Grant and Rich- 
mond, that its morale was never better than after the battle of Cold 
Harbour. 

A review of this remarkable one month's campaign in Virginia, 
so glorious to Lee, illustrates the difference between the mediocre 
commander and the master of the art of war, and is a striking 
commentary on the fruitful topic of skill against numbers. Gen. 
Lee was not reinforced by a single musket upon the battles of the 
Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court-House, and had no resource 
at hand from which to repair the terrible losses sustained on those 
bloody fields. It was not until he arrived at Hanover Junction 
that he received any addition to his thinned ranks ; and here he was 
joined by Pickett's division of Longstreet's corps, and Breckin- 
ridge, with two small brigades of infantry, and a battalion of 
artillery. These, with Hoke's brigade, were the first and only re- 
inforcements received by Gen. Lee since the opening of the cam- 
paign. He had commenced the campaign with not more than 
50,000 effective men of all arms. The report of the Federal 
Secretary of War shows that the " available force present for 
duty. May 1, 1864," in Grant's army, was 141,166, to wit : In 
the Army of the Potomac 120,386, and in the Ninth corps 20,YS0. 
The draft in the United States was being energetically enforced, 
and volunteering had been greatly stimulated by high bounties. 
The Northwestern States had tendered large bodies of troops to 
serve one hundred days, in order to relieve other troops on garri- 
son and local duty, and this enabled Grant to put in the field a 
large number of troops which had been employed on that kind of 
duty. It was known that he was receiving heavy reinforcements 
up to the very time of his movement on the 4th May, and afler- 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 133 

•wards ; so that the statement of his force on the 1st Maj, bj Stan- 
ton, does not cover the whole force with which he commenced the 
campaign. Moreover, Secretary Stanton's report shows that there 
were, in the Department of Washington and the Middle Depart- 
ment, 47,751 available men for duty, the chief part of which, he 
says, was called to the front after the campaign began, " in order to 
repair the losses of the Army of the Potomac ; " and Grant says 
that, at Spottsylvania Court- House, "the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 
17th, and 18th May, were consumed in manoeuvring and await- 
ing the arrival of reinforcements from Washington." His army, 
therefore, must have numbered very nearly, if not quite, 200,000 
men, before a junction was effected with Butler. 

To a review of the odds and difficulties against which Gen. Lee 
had to contend, and to the comparisons suggested by the opera- 
tions from the Eapidan to the Chickahominy, there is a view so 
apposite in the work of a recent military writer,* that we tran- 
scribe it here as a just conclusion of what may be said of this 
campaign, and the two rival commanders of the North and South : 

" Skill in arms is the equivalent of thousands of good troops, and 
may again succeed, as it has so often succeeded before, in gaining, 
against odds, victories which fix the fate of nations. Let us im- 
agine that an army in the field is commanded by a General who 
has fought his way upward from grade to grade, who is valiant, 
devoted, and practised in war. He is versed in all routine duties, 
knows the uses and capabilities of the different arms, can choose 
and occupy a position, make the dispositions for the march of his 
columns, stubbornly cover a retreat, and save his army even after 
a heavy disaster. But not having a mind capable of comprehen- 
sive views or of deep study, he knows nothing of great combi- 
nations. Strategy, in the sense of a flexible science to be adapted 
to circumstances, is a sealed book to him ; the theatre of war is 
written in a cipher to which he has not the key ; he can deal with 
accidents of the country, when they present themselves, as some- 
thing to be immediately attacked or defended, but they suggest no 
large problems by the solution of which a few marches decide a 
campaign. Cautious, from not knowing when he may venture to 
be bold, and rash from ignorance of what may be attempted 

* Col. Hamky : Operations of War. 



134 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

against him, he spoils his ofifensive movements by hesitation, de- 
fends himself by makeshifts, and only half understands his own 
blunders when they have ruined his army. This is no unfair pic- 
ture of what has often passed muster in the world as a respectable 
leader to be intrusted with the fate of hosts. It would do injus- 
tice to some of Napoleon's most celebrated marshals. Such a 
one will probably acquit himself with credit so long as he is op- 
posed by no qualities superiour to his own. 

" But let us imagine that a General of a different stamp enters 
the field — one who has been taught by study and thought, not 
merely what has been done in war, and how to conform to respect- 
able precedent (although that may be much), but how to meet 
new circumstances with new combinations. He has mastered the 
problems of strategy, and can read the theatre of war. He knows 
not only how to draw from a situation all its inherent advantages, 
but how to produce the situation. Thus when a great opportunity 
arrives he is the less likely to lose it, because it is of his own mak- 
ing ; he seizes it unhesitatingly, because he has confidence in his 
own knowledge of the game ; and in darkness and difficulty his 
step is assured, because he is familiar with the ground he moves 
on. When such opponents are matched we have the conditions of 
startling, brilliant, decisive success in war." 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 135 



CHAPTER XL 

General Lee's private opinion of the defences of Richmond. — A serious communication 
to the Government, and how it was treated. — Vagaries of President Davis. — Gen. 
Lee decides that the safety of Richmond lies in raising the siege — Expedition of 
Early across the Potomac. — Anxiety of Gen. Lee. — He meditates taking command 
of the force in Maryland. — Retreat of Early. — Gen. Lee next proposes a diversion 
in the VaUey of Virginia. — Failure of this operation. — Constant extension of 
Grant's left around Richmond. — Period of despondency in the South. — A letter 
of Gen. Lee on the question of supplies. — He proposes bringing in two or three years' 
supplies from Europe. — Desertion the great evil in tlie Confederate armies. — Diffi- 
culties of deahng with it. — Various letters and protests from Gen. Lee on the sub- 
ject of discipline. — An angry comment of President Davis. — Gen. Lee a severe 
disciplinarian, and yet loved by his men. — Anecdote of the General and a one- 
armed soldier. — Skeleton returns of the army. — The popular clamour against Pres- 
ident Davis. — Gen. Lee's quasi acceptance of the position of Commander-in-chief. 
Nature and peculiar history of this rank in the Confederate armies. — Hopeful 
views of Gen. Lee. — Project of arming the negroes. — Growth of new hopes for the 
Confederacy. 

Although Gen. Lee had fought, in most respects, a successful 
campaign, and in all respects a glorious one, he feared now that 
the safety of Richmond was to be put to a test which he had been 
long persuaded it could not withstand. As long as the enemy 
chose to " hammer " on his lines, he had nothing to fear ; but the 
anxiety was that Grant might proceed to envelop the city as far as 
possible, without attacking fortifications; might turn his attention 
to the railroads on the south side, and trusting to the slow opera- 
tions of taking one by one Lee's communications, and wearing out 
his little army, assure himself of a result which he had not been 
able to obtain by an action in the field. 

It was not long before Grant's operations against Richmond 
developed the very designs which Gen. Lee had suspected and 
feared ; the bulk of the Federal army being transferred to the 
south side of the James, and after an abortive attempt to take 
Petersburg, turning its attention to the railroad lines which fed 
Richmond, and were, indeed, of vital concern to the army which 
defended it. 



136 ■ GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

It is not necessary to detail these operations further than to 
explain the ideas which governed Gen. Lee in his radical change 
of the defence of the capital from a distant line to one immediately 
covering Richmond and its outpost in Petersburg, When Grant 
crossed the James River, and developed his design upon the com- 
munications of Richmond, Gen. Lee seriously advised the Richmond 
authorities that he could not hope to hold the Weldon road ; and 
he frequently thereafter expressed his surprise that the government 
received this information with so little concern, scarcely exhibiting 
a sense of danger. Indeed, such was the almost incredible obtuse- 
ness of the Confederate President and his advisers, that the reader 
will scarcely be prepared for the statement that while Lee's little 
army stood in the desperate straits of Richmond and Petersburg, 
Mr. Davis was actually proposing a detachment from his thin lines 
to reinforce Charleston, in answer to letters from the Governor of 
South Carolina, exclaiming, what was the constant cry from that 
State, that if Charleston was lost, the Southern Confederacy would 
be instantly non-extant by that event ! 

But such insane counsels were ultimately abandoned. As Gen. 
Lee had predicted, the Weldon Railroad, after repeated attemps of the 
enemy, was at last seized, and firmly held by him ; while Grant 
extended the left flank of his army to insure its tenure. His oper- 
ations now appeared, by repeated extensions of the left, to be 
directed against the Southside and Danville roads, which remained 
covered by Lee's army. These remaining lines of supply were 
threatened not only by the extension of Grant's line, but might 
be operated against by a column able to cut itself loose from its 
base. 

In these circumstances of the danger and difficulty of his com- 
munications, and the constant accession of unstinted numbers to 
the enemy in the design of enveloping his army, which could not 
possibly keep pace with that of Grant in reinforcements, Gen. 
Lee decided that the safety of Richmond lay in raising the siege. 
About the first of July, Washington was uncovered as it had never 
been before. The Army of the Potomac was south of the James ; 
and that of Hunter, which had been defeated at Lynchburg, had 
retreated wildly into the mountains of Western Virginia, leaving 
open the line of march to Washington by the Shenandoah Valley. 
It was an extraordinary opportunity to strike Washington, or at 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 137 

least to make such a menace against it as to compel Grant to turn 
his attention in that direction, and relieve the pressure on the 
beleaguered lines of Eichmond ; and Gen. Lee was prompt to avail 
himself of a great advantage which the chances of war had now 
cast in his way. 

It was a matter of great concern to select, for the important 
enterprise of a movement against Washington to relieve Eichmond, 
a commander of certain qualifications. Jackson, who would have 
been the man for the occasion, was dead ; Ewell was disabled and 
out of the field ; Longstreet was thought unfit for separate com- 
mands ; Earlj, upon whom the choice at last fell, had a mediocre 
reputation, and only that of a division commander who had fought 
courageously and tenaciously in the positions to which his supe- 
riours had assigned him. With a force consisting of the greater 
portion of Ewell's old corps, and numbering more than twelve 
thousand men, Early commenced his march from Lynchburg 
without hindrance, and on the 7th July reached Frederick in 
Maryland, from which point he might threaten both Baltimore and 
Washington. 

How large and anxious were Gen. Lee's expectations from this 
movement may be judged from a letter which he wrote to the 
War Department, on hearing of Early's arrival at Frederick. He 
desired of the Secretary of War most especially that the news- 
papers be requested to say nothing of his movements for some 
time to come, and that the department would not publish any 
communication from him which might indicate from its date his 
" distance from Richmond." But while the commander anxiously 
awaited further news from Early, expecting the capture of Wash- 
ington, and the possible necessity of his personal presence on a new 
and towering theatre of operations, the report came that Early, 
after having won the battle of Monocacy Bridge, had delayed to 
attack Washington until overawed by reinforcements, and had 
retreated across the Potomac satisfied with the success of his spoils. 

Gen. Lee was disappointed, more than he cared to express, in 
the failure of his lieutenant to fulfil the expectations that had been 
indulged in the direction of Washington ; but, determined to give 
Early another chance, and to persist in his counter movement 
to relieve the Eichmond lines, he reinforced him by two divisions 
(Kershaw's infantry and Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry), for an active 



138 • GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

campaign in the Yallcy. Nearly a month elapsed "without results ; 
Kershaw's division was recalled in consequence of this inaction ; 
and without going further into the details of the "Valley campaign, 
it may be said that it was one of such repeated and decisive 
victories for the Federals, that it was wholly ineftective as a diver- 
sion of the enemy from Richmond, and merely confirmed there the 
unequal circumstances in which Gen. Lee was left to fight the last 
battles of the Confederacy. 

It would be a tedious narrative to include here the various inci- 
dents on the Richmond lines, which took place in the course of 
many months, and were yet without any remarkable result beyond 
the constant and growing extension of Grant's left threatening 
Lee's lines of supply. This indeed was the feature of interest. 
Lee's army proved itself equal to the repulse of partial assaults ; it 
gained some successes; but it was a serious question how long it 
could defend a line which, running from northeast of Richmond to 
southwest of Petersburg, already extended nearly forty miles, and 
was being constantly stretched to meet Grant's development of his 
left in the direction of its only remaining communications with the 
South. 

The autumn and winter of 1864 are remarkable for the concern 
which fell upon the Confederacy as to the question of supplies and 
men for the prosecution of the war. In this period, Gen. Lee's 
correspondence with the War Department is very interesting, and 
indicates how much his foresight extended beyond the circles of the 
Richmond Administration. At a time when Wilmington was the 
only practicable seaport through which to obtain foreign supplies, 
Gen. Lee insisted that it should be used to its utmost capacity. 
In September he wrote a long letter to the Secretary of War, 
deprecating the use of this port by the Tallahassee and other 
cruisers, that went out and ravaged the enemy's commerce, such as 
the destruction of fishing-smacks, etc. Already he noticed that the 
presence of the Tallahassee and the Edith at Wilmington had caused 
the loss of a blockade-runner, worth more than all the vessels 
destroyed by the Tallahassee, and the port was now guarded by 
such an additional number of blockaders that it was with difficulty 
steamers could get in with supplies. He suggested that Charleston, 
or some other port, be used by the cruisers ; and that Wilmington 
be used exclusively for the importation of supplies — quartermaster's, 



GENERAL EGBERT EDWARD LEE. 139 

commissary's, ordnance, etc. He concluded by advising tliat sup- 
plies enough for two or three years be brought in, so that there might 
be no apprehension of being destitute hereafter. The admonition 
and advice of this letter were alike unheeded. 

But the military situation was not only desperate with respect 
to supplies ; there was a more painful concern, and one which, as 
it has not been admitted to sufficient consideration in most accounts 
of the war, we may state here at some length. 

Desertion was the great evil in the Confederate armies, and the 
most conspicuous of the immediate causes of the downfall and 
destruction of the Southern Confederacy. The world will be aston- 
ished when the extent of this evil is fully and authentically known, 
and will obtain a new insight into that maladministration which 
wrecked the Confederate cause, and which is positively without 
parallel in any modern history of war. There were various and 
peculiar causes of this evil ; among them the injudicious and exces- 
sive use of President Davis' prerogative to pardon deserters and 
men condemned to death under the military law. Mr. Davis was 
one of those obstinate men, immovable in certain respects, and yet 
utterly destitute of real vigour of character ; he had a weak senti- 
mentalism that was easily approached, and that put him under 
the dominion of preachers and women, who in the character of 
humanitarians, friends or relatives, were constantly beseeching the 
pardon of deserters. The President scarcely ever refused such 
appeals to his feelings, or strengthened the weak side of his char- 
acter by public considerations ; and the consequence was that the 
broadcast interposition of the pardoning power soon made it plain 
to the soldiers of the Confederacy that there was the fullest immu- 
nity for desertion. The statement is derived from authorities in 
the War Department, that in the last two years of the war, an 
average oi two-thirds of the Confederate armies was constantly in the 
condition of deserters and " absentees ! " This statement is suffi- 
cient to damn the administration of military affairs in the Southern 
Confederacy, and is an example of weakness in the authorities 
that will astonish political mankind. People in Eichmond did not 
doubt the evil ; it was constantly before the eyes of the authorities. 
One could not travel a day in the Confederacy outside the military 
camps without seeing about the depots and cross-roads sauntering 
soldiers enough to form several regiments. But no hand appeared 



140 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

strong enough to arrest the scandalous and mortal evil, as long as 
President Davis continued to shudder at public executions, and 
interposed to pardon deserters condemned to die. 

Gen. Lee, although no commander ever took better care than 
he of his troops, or obtained a larger share of their affections, was 
a thorough disciplinarian, and an uncompromising judge on all 
questions of duty. His heart was kind ; but he did not have that 
mercy which murders justice. Ever since the return of his army 
from its first invasion of Northern territory, in 1862, he was deeply 
exercised about its discipline, and was constantly writing letters 
to the War Department at Eichmond, urging this vital concern, 
and especially protesting against the loose practice of executive 
pardon to offenders. After the battle of Sharpsburg, which appears 
to have dated an era of desertion and disorder in his command, he 
had written to Richmond that unless some additional power was 
given by Congress to enforce discipline, he feared his army would 
melt away. He suggested that incompetent oflScers should be re- 
duced to the ranks, and that more stringent regulations should be 
adopted. The recommendation was observed to some extent, and 
the condition of the army improved. Other suggestions were 
made ; the most notable of which was to keep the new conscripts 
in camps of instruction until they were "seasoned" for the field. 
In these respects Gen, Lee inproved the discipline and material of 
his army ; but with the monster evil of desertion he was but little 
able to contend, as long as he was fettered by the prerogative of 
the President to pardon men condemned by the military authority. 
The consequence was, that in the hard and critical campaign of 
1864, the evil of desertion broke out afresh, and to such an extent 
that Gen. Lee lost nearly half his army from this cause alone, and 
in the last period of the war found his numbers utterly incapable 
of offensive operations. 

In December, 1864, Gen. Longstreet reported : " Over 100 of 
Gen. Pickett's men are in the guard-house for desertion, and that 
the cause of it may be attributed to the numerous reprieves, no one 
being executed for two months." Gen. Lee indorsed on the paper : 
" Desertion is increasing in the army, notwithstanding all my efforts 
to stop it. I think a rigid execution of the law is mercy in the 
end. The great want in our army is firm discipline.''^ The Secre- 
tary of "War sent it to the President " for his information," The 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 141 

President sent it back with the following imperious indorsement : 
" When deserters are arrested they should be tried, and if the sen- 
tences are reviewed and remitted, thai is not a proper subject for the 
criticism of a military commander.''^ 

These texts are sufficient indication of the policy on the part 
of the President that had broken down military discipline, deplet- 
ed the armies, and brought the Confederacy to the brink of de- 
struction. The protest of Gen, Lee, even, was unavailing ; deser- 
tions increased as the rigour of winter came on, demoralizing the 
army as well as diminishing its numbers, until at last we shall find 
Gen. Lee holding both Richmond and Petersburg with not more 
than 34,000 men, while Grant confronted him with an army of 
160,000, and Sherman with another grand army of 100,000 men 
was within 150 miles of his lines. 

While the record of Gen. Lee on the subject of discipline in the 
army was thus full and explicit, we must repeat that it was con- 
sistent with the most kindly and affectionate care for his men. 
Although this alone was unable to stop desertion, yet it had some 
effect, and probably explains the fact that extensive as was this 
evil in Gen, Lee's army, it was considerably less than in other 
armies of the Confederacy. Of his constant and unaffected care 
for his men there are numberless anecdotes ; one of which is so 
characteristic that we cannot refrain from copying it here, although 
it has been so widely circulated in the newspapers that by this 
means it is doubtless already known to the public. It was an in- 
cident of the last winter of the war, and was thus told by the 
Richmond Whig: 

" A gentleman who was in the train from this city to Petersburg, 
a very cold morning not long ago, tells us his attention was at- 
tracted by the efforts of a young soldier, with his arm in a sling, 
to get his overcoat on. His teeth as well as his sound arm were 
brought into use to effect the object ; but, in the midst of his 
efforts, an officer rose from his seat, advanced to him, and very 
carefully and tenderly assisted him, drawing the coat gently over 
bis wounded arm and buttoning it up comfortably ; then with a 
few kind and pleasant words, returning to his seat. Now the offi- 
cer in question was not clad in gorgeous uniform, with a brilliant 
wreath upon the collar, and a multitude of gilt lines upon the 
sleeves, resembling the famous labyrinth of Crete, but he was clad 



142 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

ill 'a simple suit of gray,' distinguished from the garb of a civilian 
only by the three stars which every Confederate colonel in the 
service, by the regulations, is entitled to wear. And yet he was 
no other than our chief General, Robert E. Lee, who is not braver 
than he is good and modest." 

It is interesting to notice in the last periods of the war the skel- 
eton organization of the Confederate armies, and to compare its 
imposing breadth on paper with the number of men actually un- 
der arms. Regiments were counted by tens, brigades by hundreds ; 
and a division, which according to European ideas represented, in 
some respects, a complete army, often did not number more than a 
thousand men. As an instance of such reduction in Gen. Lee's 
army, we may take the actual numbers of some of the brigades 
just before the final battles of Petersburg. Corse's brigade was 
put down at 1,100 muskets ; Terry's at TOO ; Stewart's at 800. 
In the division of Bushrod Johnson, Ransom's brigade numbered 
TOO muskets ; that of Wallace, 300 muskets ! It may be said here 
that these brigades selected for example, composed the force of in- 
fantry that the enemy estimated as a large army in his account of 
the/battle of Five Forks — an event which we have yet to relate. 
\/ It is not to be supposed that the Congress at Richmond was as 
wilfully blind as the President to the desperate situation of mili- 
tary affairs. In the growing distrust of Mr. Davis' administration 
there had come to be a very general opinion that the only hope of 
the South remained in some radical change in the conduct of mili- 
tary affairs, some new inspiration of the Confederate arms, which 
Gen. Lee alone was competent to effect. To him all eyes turned 
as the remaining hope of the Confederacy ; on his shoulders there 
was an anxiety to put the burden of the public cares; and a move- 
ment commenced in the second year of the war, to give him the 
entire administration of military affairs apart from and above the 
President, and then discontinued by his wishes, was now resolutely 
and persistently renewed. To the extent of this trust and confi- 
dence of the people in him Gen. Lee could not be insensible ; his 
modesty could not bar the knowledge of it; it was in the thoughts 
and speeches of all men ; it was before his eye in Q,VQvy newspaper 
he read ; it was the daily conversation of the people; it reached his 
ear in every tone of expression. Ilis judgment, approved by so 
many events ; the great proportions and lordly character of the 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. ♦ 143 

man ; his constancy under heavy trials ; his noble equanimity in 
the face of misfortune, were to popular apprehension the only 
assurances of the future, the only signals of hope and deliverance 
in what was now the darkest and most painful time of the war. 

The irresistible logic of events had proved Mr. Davis incapable, 
at least in the military branches of his administration. In times of 
peace he might have made a fair President ; he had virtues and 
accomplishments ; he was really a man of ability ; and in the ordi- 
nary routine of government, his personal prejudices, his unjust and 
unequal distribution of favours, might have amounted to nothing 
more than a partisan delinquency, in which the countrj'-, though 
badly served, was not seriously injured. But he had not the broad 
intellect requisite for the gigantic measures needed in a time of 
war ; he had not the health and physique for the labours devolving 
on him ; he was too much of a politician to discard prejudices for 
public considerations ; and he persisted in keeping aloof from him 
and his administration all the great statesmen and patriots who 
had been conspicuous in the first stages of secession, and had been 
his distinguished colabourers in the work of preparing the minds 
of the people for resistance to Northern domination. While the 
finance and subsistence of the country, the two most important 
concerns of the war, were surrendered to such curiosities as Mem- 
minger and Northrop, where were such men as Hunter, Wise, 
Floyd, Rliett, Yancey, Toombs, etc.? The mere apposition of such 
names is sufficient commentary on Mr. Davis' administration. Its 
cardinal fault was that he drove from him the heart and brain of 
the country ; and the consequence was that many of these influen- 
tial men whom he excluded from the circle of his patronage and 
power busied themselves in organizing an opposition, and carried 
with them the sympathies of the people. 

It was a long time before Gen. Lee could be brought to accept 
the position of Commander-in-chief of all the forces of the Con- 
federacy, empowered to act in military matters without the advice 
of the President, and then only, as we shall see, in an inefiective 
senseA The great fault of Gen. Lee was a want of self-assertion in 
artime and circum.stances which demanded this quality. It was 
not so much the declination of modesty, as a positive disinclination 
to accept any responsibilities not imposed upon him by the clear 
and dominant demand of duty. The disposition of the man to 



144 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

keep within the severe boundaries of his vocation, and not to do 
an iota more or less than duty demanded, is apparent in every 
article of his life. It was, we repeat, conscientiousness rather than 
a modesty timid of new experiments ; but a conscientiousness car- 
ried to a morbid excess, and bordering on the negative side of char- 
acter, is not admirable, and it is to be regretted that Gen. Lee was 
impracticable to the universal popular demand that he should take 
control of the military administration of the Confederacy. 

His scruple was that President Davis was Commander-in-chief, 
and the appointment of himself to such a position, in derogation of 
his authority, was, in a certain sense, a revolutionary measure. Yet 
the whole war was, in a certain sense, revolutionary, and the cir- 
cumstances were those in which the solus reipublicce was the higher 
law and the supreme consideration of duty. 

"With reference to the popular demand that Gen. Lee should 
take command of all the armies, President Davis made the follow- 
ing explanation : — " When Gen. Lee took command of the Army 
of Northern Virginia, he was in command of all the armies of the 
Confederate States by my order of assignment. He continued in 
this general command, as well as in the immediate command of the 
Army of Northern Virginia, as long as I would resist his opinion 
that it was necessary for him to be relieved from one of these two 
duties. Ready as he has ever shown himself to be to perform any 
service that I desired him to render to his countr}^, he left it for 
me to choose between his withdrawal from the command of the 
army in the field, and relieving him of the general command of all 
the armies of the Confederate States. It was only when satisfied 
of this necessity that I came to the conclusion to relieve him 
from the general command, believing that the safety of the capi- 
tal and the success of our cause depended, in a great measure, 
on then retaining him in the command in the field of the Army 
of Northern Virginia." 

It is to be regretted that the President of the Southern Con- 
federacy could have brought his mind to so disingenuous a state- 
ment. The position which Gen. Lee held in 1862, described here 
as "command of all the armies of the Confederate States," had 
attached to it the condition, " with the advice and direction of the 
President,^^ and the occupant was nothing more than part of "Mr. 
Davis' military family ; " while the present demand was that Gen. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 145 

Lee should have independent supreme control of the armies, and 
supersede the military authority of the President. 

The discussion of this change in the Confederate Administra- 
tion ended with the apparent acceptance by Gen. Lee of the 
appointment of Commander-in-chief It was thus announced by 
him to the public : 

" In obedience to General Order, No. 3, from the Adjutant and 
Inspector-General's office, February 6, 1865, I assume command of 
the military forces of the Confederate States. Deeply impressed 
with the difficulties and responsibility of the position, and humbly 
invoking the guidance of Almighty God, I rely for success upon 
the courage and fortitude of the army, sustained by the patriot- 
ism and firmness of the people, confident that their united efforts, 
under the blessing of Heaven, will secure peace and indepen- 
dence." 

But Gen. Lee did not accept the position in the sense and to the 
extent that Congress had intended. He had not discarded the 
scruple referred to ; he still believed the President to be " constitu- 
tionally " Commander-in-chief; and while accepting the position to 
■which Congress and the country had called him, in terms so as to 
satisfy public sentiment and end a controversy in which he was 
unpleasantly involved, he did it with a mental reservation to re- 
spect the views of the President quite equivalent to the former 
written conditions that had been attached to the position. This ex- 
planation is necessary to understand a part of Confederate history 
which has been generally confused ; and proofs of it we shall soon 
see in the sequel, where the unfortunate judgment of the President 
,Was still visible, and took its accustomed precedence in the conduct 
of military affairs. 

The apparent change, however, in the military conduct of af- 
fairs, which the public interpreted according to the letter of the 
announcement, and without knowledge of its limited application, 
was the occasion of some new animation in the Confederacy. It 
was believed now, that with the renewal of confidence in the ar- 
mies under Gen. Lee's hand, that the efflux of desertions might be 
stayed, and time gained for new measures to recruit the armies. 
Men commenced to lay hold on new grounds of hope. Gen. Lee 
himself was not despondent, as might be supposed, in his full 
knowledge of the desperate condition of affairs ; he had conceived 

10 



146 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

the hypothesis that the Confederacy might last another campaign, 
and proceeding on this hypothesis, he meditated many measures by 
which its strength might be repaired in another twelve months' 
lease of existence, and the really large resources which yet remain- 
ed in the country he made available for the purposes of the war. 
Mr. Rives was given as authority in Congress for saying that Gen. 
Lee " had but a single thing to fear, and that was the spreading of 
a causeless despondency among the people." "Prevent this," he 
said, " and all will be well. We have strength enough left to win 
our independence, and we are certain to win it, if people do not 
give way to foolish despair." 

These hopeful views of Gen. Lee contemplated time ; and prob- 
ably proceeded in a great degree from his conception of a meas- 
ure to make available the negro population of the South — a vast 
resource, indeed, but unwieldy, and surrounded by embarrassing 
questions as to the precise methods of employment. In September, 
1864, Gen. Lee had given his opinion in a letter to the Secretary 
of War, that the army should have the benefit of a certain per cent, 
of the negroes, free and slave, as teamsters, labourers, etc. ; and he 
suggested that there should be a corps of them permanently attached 
to his army. Subsequently, he enlarged his view of the matter, 
and addressed the following letter to a leading member of Congress : 

Headquarters Confederate States Armies, 
February 18, 18G5. 
Hon. E. Barksdah, House of Representatives, Richmond: 

Sir : — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your 
letter of the 12th inst., with reference to the employment of negroes 
as soldiers. I think the measure not only expedient, but necessary. 
The enemy will certainly use them against us if he can get pos- 
session of them ; and as his present numerical superiority will 
enable him to penetrate many parts of the country, I cannot see 
the wisdom of the policy of holding them to await his arrival, 
when we may, by timely action and judicious management, use 
them to arrest his progress. I do not think that our white popula- 
tion can supply the necessities of a long war without overtaxing 
its capacity and imposing great suffering upon our people ; and I 
believe we should provide resources for a protracted struggle — not 
merely for a battle or a campaign. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 147 

In answer to your second question, I can only say that, in my 
opinion, the negroes, under proper circumstances, will make effi- 
cient soldiers. I think we could at least do as well with them as 
the enemy, and he attaches great importance to their assistance. 
Under good officers, and good instructions, I do not see why they 
should not become soldiers. They possess all the physical quali- 
fications, and their habits of obedience constitute a good founda- 
tion for discipline. They furnish a more promising material than 
many armies of which we read in history, which owed their effi- 
ciency to discipline alone. I think those who are employed should 
be freed. It would be neither just nor wise, in my opinion, to 
require them to serve as slaves. The best course to pursue, it 
seems to me, would be to call for such as are willing to come with 
the consent of their owners. An impressment or draft would not 
be likely to bring out the best class, and the use of coercion would 
make the measure distasteful to them and to their owners. 

I have no doubt that if Congress would authorize their recep- 
tion into service, and empower the President to call upon individ- 
uals or States for such as they are willing to contribute, with the 
condition of emancipation to all enrolled, a sufficient number would 
be forthcoming to enable us to try the experiment. If it proved 
successful, most of the objections to the measure would disappear, 
and if individuals still remained unwilling to send their negroes to 
the army, the force of public opinion in the States would soon 
bring about such legislation as would remove all obstacles. I 
think the matter should be left, as far as possible, to the people 
and to the States, which alone can legislate as the necessities of 
this particular service may require. As to the mode of organizing 
them, it should be left as free from restraint as possible. Experi- 
ence will suggest the best course, and it would be inexpedient to 
trammel the subject with provisions that might, in the end, pre- 
vent the adoption of reforms suggested by actual trial. 
With great respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

E. E. Lee, General. 

What might have been the results of this measure if the con- 
ditions of time necessary to realize them had been secured, it would 
be profitless speculation now to inquire ; for the time to test it was 



148 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

never obtained. The experiment was but poorly initiated by Con- 
gress in a very defective bill passed on the heel of the session, and 
shared the fate of all Confederate things in a few weeks there- 
after. While Gen. Lee laid hold of new hopes and new measures, 
all were overwhelmed by one catastrophe, and the Southern Con- 
federacy fell with a suddenness that the enemy even had not 
expected, and perished before the time predicted in which a tem- 
porary recovery might take place and a last grand struggle of arms 
terminate the contest. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 149 



CHAPTER XII. 

Eitraordiuary cheerfulness of GeD. Lee. — A psychological reflection. — The Army 
of Northern Virginia at a third stage in its history. — Military preparations for 
the evacuation of Richmond. — Protests of the Government. — Gen. Lee's last and 
desperate resolution. — Battle of Five Forks. — Theory and results of the action. — 
Grant's assault in front of Petersburg. — How Gen. Lee received it. — His remark 
to a staff-officer. 

It bas often been remarked by those who saw Gen. Lee in 
Richmond in the last periods of the war, shortly before the final 
battles of Petersburg, what extraordinary cheerfulness he exhibited, 
despite of all he knew of the extreme condition of the Confed- 
eracy. His manners were observed to be unusually lively and 
pleasant at this time ; his step was elastic ; and he presented a 
picture of healthy, cheerful activity that many despondent persons 
were at a loss to understand. There is in some measure a psy- 
chological explanation of this apparent inconsistency of behaviour. 
"While ordinary men are depressed by the approach of a desperate 
trial, it appears to be the gift of the great soul to meet it with 
inspirations of alacrity, and to show a smiling face even in the 
last agonies of the contest against fate. It is the old heathen pic- 
ture of man sublimely contending with fate, to the admiration of 
the gods ; the modern idea of the true hero, with elated form and 
illuminated face, accepting the last test of endurance, and with the 
smile of a sublime resolution risking the last defiance of fortune. 
Cheerfulness in such circumstances is an inspiration ; the crest of 
the truly great man rises in circumstances wherein the ordinary 
countenance falls, and the thought of a desperate trial puts a pecu- 
liar smile on his face when that of meaner men it would stamp 
with anxiety and alarm. 

But there were reasons other than this recondite inspiration 
that so perceptibly kindled Gen. Lee's manners in what proved to 
be the last days of Richmond. He had conceived a resolution, at 
that time utterly unknown to the public, and founded on it a 
]ational and lively hope. 



150 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

The Army of Northern Virginia was at a third stage in its his- 
tory. The three stages were : First, when it had defended Rich- 
mond on a distant line of operations ; second, when it held the im- 
mediate works of the capital, and was subjected to the operations 
of siege ; third, when unable to break the enemy's investment, no 
longer capable of offensive operations, and in imminent danger of 
losing its communications, its policy had come to be the extrication 
of itself, and an eccentric campaign. The third and last concern 
Gen. Lee was now meditating ; and he determined to save his army 
while there was exit for it, and the means of retreat were available. 

In the early part of February he made preparations for the 
evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. It was certainly the best 
thing he could do under the circumstances. There is a stupid per- 
sistence in whatever may once take the imagination of the popu- 
lace; and thus many persons in Richmond maintained the hallu- 
cination that Lee's lines were to be held en permanence, and Grant 
to " hammer " away indefinitely, for no other reason than that this 
situation was the one most familiar to their minds. But it was 
plain to the intelligent that this situation must soon resolve itself 
into one or the other of two things — retreat or surrender; that it 
was impossible that Lee could hold his lines against the large and 
steady reinforcements sent to Grant. He had already forty miles 
of earthworks to defend against more than four times his own num- 
bers. There were some things obvious on the survey of the field, 
which were, of course, not lost to the military eye of Gen. Lee. 
It was obvious that if Grant continued to receive heavy reinforce- 
ments, and Lee none, while his army continued to diminish from 
desertions and casualties, the time would soon come when retreat 
or surrender would be the only alternative. It was obvious that 
if the immense line of Lee's works was broken anywhere, he was 
lost. It was obvious that he should make an attempt to save his 
army, and that there was only one hopeful way to do it, the op- 
portunity of which was of doubtful duration. 

If he moved at all, he would have to do so on the line of the 
Southside Railroad towards Danville; and he must move at once. 
With the hope of cutting off his retreat, and with a full knowledge 
of his adversary's necessities. Grant was moving heavy columns to- 
wards Hatcher's Run, and was awaiting what he supposed to be the 
certain attempt of the Confederates to retreat. His army was kept 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 151 

ready day and night, with rations cooked and in haversacks, and 
with every preparation complete for instant pursuit. If Gen. Lee 
did not retreat, time might allow the Federal army to fight its way 
to the Southside road, or opportunity might be obtained to oper- 
ate on it with a detached column ; and once lodged on this great 
artery of the Confederate army, it could at once cut its vital 
communications, and bar what was apparently its only chance of 
escape. 

Influenced by these views. Gen. Lee determined to evacuate 
Richmond and Petersburg during the winter months, and before 
spring brought on those active operations which he feared might 
be fatal to his army. In February he gave orders for the remo- 
val of all the stores of the army to Danville. Cotton and tobacco, 
belonging to the Government, were hauled away from Petersburg; 
large numbers of the inhabitants left the place; all the surplus 
artillery was sent to Amelia Court- House, and even the reserve 
ordnance train of the army was ordered to the same point. 

But in the midst of these preparations came such protests from 
Richmond as Gen. Lee felt bound to regard. President Davis con- 
sidered the evacuation of the capital as the last thing to be done; 
he feared its moral effect; he hoped for changes in the military 
situation elsewhere which might relieve the aspect of affairs about 
the capital ; he clung to the strange idea of a victory over Sherman, 
whose eccentric march was described by one of the Richmond 
clergy in the words: " God had put a hook in Sherman's nose, and 
was leading him to destruction." The unhappy consequence was 
that Gen. Lee was dissuaded from his first intentions, and finally 
determined to hold his position, to test his lines of defence, and in 
the last event of their giving way to trust for the extrication of 
his army through whatever developments might take place in the 
experiment. 

The close of the Valley campaign, with another sum of mis- 
fortune for the South, gave Grant the control of Sheridan's unriv- 
alled cavalry command of about twelve thousand sabres. With 
this great advantage of cavalry he determined to organize a column 
to operate towards the Southside road, and to throw the el'tte of his 
army against Lee's right. Such an assault, in his enfeebled condi- 
tion, was more than Gen. Lee could sustain, unless he stripped his 
works elsewhere. But a brave eflPort was made to prepare for the 



152 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

coming storm; and Gen. Lee was now evidently determined to 
stand at bay and fight to the last. 

The designs of the Federal commander were soon evident. For 
some time he had rested on the assurance that, with the force at his 
command, and the advantages of his new base at City Point, suc- 
cess was but a question of time. He knew quite accurately the 
strength and condition of the opposing force, and that it was 
quite impossible for Gen. Lee to hold with it a line extending 
forty miles, and on both sides of the James Eiver. The junction 
of Sheridan's cavalry raised Grant's force to 170,000 effectives, 
and was the signal of action. On the 29th March commenced the 
movement to the left, and the attack upon the Confederate right. 
This movement was made under the cover of a threatened attack 
along the entire line, but did not deceive the wakeful eye of Lee, 
who at once prepared to resist as best he could. The divisions of 
Gen. Pickett and of Gen. Bushrod Johnson were sent to the 
extreme right, and with them the cavalry, in numbers small ; and 
in the weak and broken-down condition of their horses, almost 
starved for want of food, in poor plight to compete with the splen- 
did army under Sheridan, flushed with their recent successes. To 
Sheridan and his ten thousand cavalry, supported by two cor]3S of 
picked infantry, was intrusted the movement upon Lee's right 
flank. The first attack was unsuccessful; at Dinwiddle Court- 
Ilouse Sheridan was defeated by the troops under Pickett, and 
compelled to retreat. He renewed the attack upon the 1st April, 
his cavalry covering and completely masking his infantry. The 
battle of " Five Forks " followed. It was the last important fight 
of the war. The forces under Johnson and Pickett, two small 
divisions, with the handful of cavalry, in numbers scarcely one- 
fourth of the opposing host, for a time maintained most gallantly, 
and with heroic spirit, the unequal contest. Their flanks were 
turned ; they were overpowered by numbers, surrounded, and cut 
off; resistance was no longer possible, and reinforcements were out 
of the question. 

There never was published any oflScial report, on the Confed- 
erate side, of the battle of Five Forks. To this day the reports of 
the Confederate Generals engaged, although regularly made to 
Gen. Lee, have never seen the public light ; and the consequence 
has been that the Northern version of the battle has been generally 



GENEEAL EGBERT EDWARD LEE. 153 

accepted, even in the newspapers and popular narratives of the 
South, and a very false idea has obtained of the merits of the 
action on the side of the Confederates, and particularly as to the 
extent of the odds against which they contended on the eventful 
first day of April. The author has before him manuscript copies 
of the official reports made to Gen. Lee ; and from these it appears 
that the Confederate force was not half what it has been popularly 
supposed to be ; that it maintained the action with courage and 
ability ; that it won a victory at first over Sheridan, before his 
infantry had reinforced him ; and that it at last yielded the field 
only after it had been nearly enveloped by the largely superiour 
forces of the enemy. In his official report of Five Forks (suppressed 
after the surrender of the Confederate arms) Gen. Pickett writes : 
" The field was most stubbornly contested against great odds. The 
whole of Sheridan's cavalry, joined with Kautz, the Second corps, 
and part of the Sixth, were attacking us. I learned a few days 
afterwards, from a General of division in "Warren's corps, that it 
was 19,000 strong, making the enemy's force probably 35,000, 
whilst we did not have more than 8,000 men engaged." Of this 
small Confederate force nearly one-half were taken prisoners ; and 
an action which had taken place in the most desperate circum- 
stances, and had once obtained some of the auspices and fruits of a 
Confederate victory, became a frightful disaster. 

But without reference to the battle of Five Forks, and even if 
a Confederate victory had been obtained there, the fate of Peters- 
burg and Richmond was decided elsewhere ; for Grant, espying the 
weakness of Lee's intrenched line before the former city, deter- 
mined to break it, and in the morning of the 2d April opened an 
attack from the Appomattox to Hatcher's Run. Gen, Lee had 
foreseen such an attack ; he knew well how little the troops of 
Hill and Gordon, strung on the long line, were able to meet it ; 
but he was never more calm and collected than when on this mem- 
orable Sabbath, in the broad stretches of the morning sunshine, 
and on the irradiated landscape, he witnessed from a position near 
his headquarters the battle that probably contained the fate of him- 
self and army. It was observed that, though always attentive to 
his person, he was dressed this morning with unusual and scrupu- 
lous care. His gold-hilted sword, seldom worn, hung b}'' his side. 
It was as if he had put on his best attire and insignia, not know- 



154 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE, 

ing where the night might find him. But to all appearance he 
was never more self-possessed than when mounted on his iron-gray 
horse, straight as an arrow and calm as a May morning, he watched 
through his glasses the advance of the enemy. One could imagine 
him at a review; the repose of his manner was perfect and com- 
manding, while his restive horse curveted and fretted under him ; 
but it was remarked once that his cheek flushed, and a gleam of 
battle shone in his face, as a shell burst almost upon him, killing a 
horse near by, and cutting the bridle-reins of his own magnificent 
charger. 

On came the enemy in double column with fearful array. Check 
ed momentarily on Gordon's lines to the left of " the Crater," a 
more determined attack was made on Hill's weaker position ; and 
it was soon observed that the masses of Federal infantry, over- 
running the slender opposition, were pressing to the line of re- 
doubts some two or three hundred yards in rear of the ground first 
held by Hill. Fort Gregg was run over ; Fort Alexander fell 
only after a heroic resistance ; and by noon it was apparent to Gen. 
Lee, that with the Southside Railroad in the enemy's possession and 
his intrenched line in front of Petersburg gone, it only remained 
for him to hold the town long enough to collect and organize his 
men for the last chances of retreat. 

On the brief and fiery drama that had taken place before his 
eyes he made no comment, further than to turn to Col. Marshall, 
one of his aides, and say : " Well, Colonel, it has happened as I 
told them it would in Richmond : the line has been stretched until 
•it has broke." 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 155 



CHAPTER XIIL 

The last retreat of Gen. Lee's army. — Two notable pictures. — Gren. Lee conceives a 
new prospect of action. — A fatal miscarriage at Amelia Court-House. — No food for 
the army. — Terrible sufferings of the retreat. — G-eneral despair ana misery. — Action 
at Sailor's Creek. — Condition of the army at Appomattox Court-House. — Apparition 
of the white flag. — Correspondence between Generals Lee and Grant. — Authentic 
and detailed account of their interview at McLean's House. — Contradiction of va- 
rious popular reports of this event. — Gen. Lee announcing the terms of surrender 
to his ofiQcers. — Scenes in the encampments. — G«n. Lee's last address to his troops. 
— His return to Richmond. — Last tokens of afiection and respect for the Confed- 
eracy. 

Night gave Gen. Lee the time he wanted to collect his forces 
for retreat, and the morning of the 3d April found him across the 
Appomattox, with the remains of his army well got together, head- 
ing away from Richmond. In the light of that morning were two 
notable pictures. A pall of smoke, with the golden light weaved 
in its folds, hung in the sky above Richmond; beneath roared and 
surged a sea of fire, reaching from the island-dotted river to the 
tall trees that fringed the hill on which the Capitol stood ; skirting 
this sea, pouring down Church Hill, was the victorious army glis- 
tening with steel and banners, now ascending Franklin street, curv- 
ing at the Exchange Hotel to the upper streets that led to Capitol 
Square, making this curve the point where passionate music clash- 
ed out its triumph, and each body of troops took up the cheer of 
victory, and cavalrymen waved their swords, and the column swept 
up the hill as if in sudden haste to seize the green patch of ground 
where stood the dumb walls of the Capitol of the Confederacy. 
Away from this scene of sublime horrour was the other picture : an 
army tattered, brown, weather-beaten, moving through the woods 
and on blind roads, with straggling, distressed trains, the faces of 
its soldiers turned from Richmond, but ever and anon looking cu- 
riously to the sky, and to its pillars and drapery of smoke, and 
the black horrour that stood there all day, while the forest pulsed 
in glorious sunshine, and quiet fields peeped out in the garniture of 
Spring. 



156 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

The last game of war had now truly commenced between Lee 
and Grant, the former aiming to save his army, which he had 
already extricated beyond his hopes, and the latter making every 
endeavour to cut off and capture or destroy it. In the morning of 
the 3d April, Gen. Lee showed remarkable spirits, and had evi- 
dently obtained a new confidence. A correspondent of the London 
Times, who faithfully and vividly described the retreat, relates that 
on this morning Gen. Lee remarked : " I have got my army safe 
out of its breastworks, and in order to follow me, my enemy must 
abandon his lines, and can derive no further benefit from his rail- 
roads and the James Eiver." Anyhow, a reflection of this sort 
was just. Gen. Lee had yet an army of twenty-five thousand men ; 
it was foot-loose, ready to move in any direction ; the men were 
exhilarated, relieved from the confinement of siege and emerging 
into the open country ; and having already accomplished so much, 
the commander might yet hope to use his army with effect, espe- 
cially if opportunity occurred to fall in detail upon the forces into 
which Grant would necessarily have to divide his army, with a 
view to a comprehensive and vigorous pursuit. 

In that pursuit, the possession of the Sou thside Railroad had 
given the enemy all the advantages of the interiour line. Lee was 
alive to this disadvantage; the very privates of his army under- 
stood it. Men who carried muskets were heard to say to their 
comrades: "Grant is trying to cut off 'Uncle Eobert' at Burkes- 
ville junction" (the point of meeting of the Southside and Danville 
roads) ; and the answer was : " Grant has got the inside track and 
can get there first." This was the plain truth of the situation. 

Grant held the Southside road, and was pressing forward troops 
under Sheridan towards the Danville road, to which he had a 
straight cut without a particle of obstruction, except a small force 
of cavalry under Fitzhugh Lee. Gen. Lee, on the contrary, was 
moving by a circuitous route on the north bank of the Appomattox, 
encumbered by a huge wagon train, and having in front of him a 
swollen river, which proved, indeed, a terrible delay when every 
moment counted. So great were these obstacles, that there is little 
doubt Grant might have effectually intercepted the retreat at 
Amelia Court-IIouse, if he had made extraordinary exertions to 
do so, and concentrated the forces under Sheridan and Meade. As 
it was. Gen. Lee did not succceed in reaching this point until the 



GENEKAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 157 

5th April ; the bridges over the Appomattox being swept away, 
or rendered useless bj the freshets which covered the low grounds 
and prevented access to them. The troops finally crossed on pon- 
toons at two or three places ; and although suffering severely from 
want of rations, they pushed forward in good spirits to Amelia 
Court-House. 

In the suburbs of this pretty little village the trains encamped, 
and the travel-worn troops bivouacked in the fields. The morale 
of the army was excellent ; it had not yet been put to the test of 
any great suffering. It still presented a formidable spectacle in 
lines of veterans with bristling bayonets, led by such heroic com- 
manders as Longstreet, Grordon and Mahone. The important, vital 
concern was, to provision it ; and a fortnight before. Gen. Lee, in 
view of the exigencies of retreat, had given urgent and precise 
orders that large supplies of commissary and quartermaster's stores 
should be sent forward from Danville to Amelia Court-House. 
But at the latter place he found not a ration. His orders had been 
disregarded ; and now, in the second stage of retreat, aiming at 
Lynchburg in the direction of Farmville, his army faced a new 
enemy in hunger, and staggered under an accumulation of distress 
that only the hardiest natures could endure. 

The line of retreat penetrated a region of hills, where good posi- 
tions might be taken for defence ; but the straggling woods, the 
pine barrens, and the small patches of clearing, aftbrded but little 
prospect for subsistence. Half the army was broken up into forag- 
ing parties to get food ; opportunities of desertion diminished it at 
every step ; men who plucked from the trees leaves and twigs to 
assuage their hunger, dropped out by the wayside, famishing ; 
jaded horses and mules sunk under the whips of the teamsters, and 
broken wagons choked the roads. The retreat became slow and 
slower. The numbers and excellence of the enemy's cavalry gave 
them a fatal advantage. The reserve train, containing nearly all 
the ammunition of Lee's army, was attacked and burned in the first 
stages of retreat, and the fate awaiting other portions of the army 
train was foreseen. Its unwieldy size and slow movement made it 
an easy prey, and it was incessantly attacked, and large sections 
carried off or destroyed. From this time commenced the most dis- 
tressing scenes of the march. Hunger brought with it the demoral- 
ization it never fails to produce in a large number of men ; nearly 



158 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

every hour of the day there was an attack of cavalry, a running 
fight ; the woods rocked with the explosions, w^here burning wag- 
ons filled with ammunition and shells had been abandoned ; and 
when night came, and the army paused in the hasty field-works 
thrown up for their protection, the wolves were heard again upon 
the track, and the incessant cry of " cavalry," and fierce volleys 
of fire, prevented the jaded men from catching even one undisturbed 
hour of sleep. 

The retreat continued. Hunger, thirst, and weariness continued. 
For the four or five days, during which the retreating army toiled 
on, it is said " the suffering of the men from the pangs of hunger 
has not been approached in the military annals of the last fifty 
years." Despondency, like a black poisonous mist, -weighed down 
its endeavours, and infected the stoutest hearts. The men fell out 
of the ranks by hundreds, overcome by want of food and sleep, and 
worn out by exhaustion ; or what was equally bad, they dropped 
their heavy guns and cartridge-boxes, and straggled along, a useless 
and cumbrous mob. Many laid down to die ; many welcomed 
death as God's blessing in disguise, and with gaunt famine glaring 
hopelessly from their sunken eyes, sought places to throw down 
their exhausted bodies, and demand from nature the end of their 
sufferings. 

The fashion of retreat was, that at every hill divisions would 
alternately halt and form lines of battle to check their pursuers. 
It was on one of these halts, just south of Sailor's Creek, a tributary 
of the Appomattox, that a considerable fight ensued on the 6th of 
April, in which Sheridan struck in upon the line of retreat, and 
took a number of prisoners, but not without learning to his cost, 
that in the fugitive, famishing crowd there was yet something of the 
old fire of the Army of Northern Virginia capable of an episode 
of desperate and devoted courage, in what were evidently the 
•final scenes of its existence. The attack was made with great 
suddenness- the enemy running over a portion of Ewell's com- 
mand, appeared determined to bring matters to a crisis, when sud- 
denly he found in his front a line of battle that had been devel- 
oped with a swiftness that showed that Lee had yet under his 
quick and facile hand troops, devoted, desperate, even in the 
last extremity responsive to their commander. At the first per- 
ception of the shock of attack, Gen. Lee formed a line of battle to 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 159 

repulse the enemy, if he advanced upon what remained of the Con- 
federate trains moving towards High Bridge. A brigade of infan- 
try was pushed across at double-quick, and between E well's men 
and the hitherto victorious troopers of Sheridan, arose a wall of 
bayonets flanked by cannon. In view of this formidable appari- 
tion, the enemy went back. At one time, however, a fierce battle 
was expected, and in the gloom of twilight a lurid glare of signals 
along the Federal lines made a luminous track through the forest, 
and seemed to be the prelude to another attack. Gen. Lee himself 
watched anxiously the remarkable and picturesque scene. On a 
plateau, raised from the forest whence they had emerged, were the 
broken troops ; there were exclamations of rage and defiance 
among them, the evident smart of mortification ; in front was the 
line of battle still and calm, awaiting another attack. But no 
attack was made ; Sheridan was content with his adventure. As 
Gen. Lee rode back in the gathering gloom of night, through the 
disordered groups on the plateau, there were cries : " It's Gen. Lee ! 
Uncle Eobert ! Where's the man who won't follow Uncle Robert ? " 
He had not yet despaired of saving the men who testified to him 
such love and confidence in the extremities of fate. 

In the night of the 8th April, the reduced, worn, suffering 
army reached Appomattox Court-House. It was now within 
twenty-four miles of Lynchburg, on a strip of land between the 
James and Appomattox Rivers. What had been the Army of 
Northern Virginia was now counted by a few thousands. Gordon 
marched in front with scarcely more than two thousand men ; the 
wreck of Longstreet's command made up the rear; and between 
Gordon and Longstreet were the remaining wagons, and clinging 
to them thousands of unarmed and famished stragglers, too weak 
to carry their muskets. To such condition was reduced the grand, 
memorable army that had traversed so many distances, and accom- 
plished so many campaigns; that had twice trod the enemy's soil, 
and displayed itself on the foreground of Washington ; that had 
never known rout or panic ; that had made the greatest name in 
the world's history ; and that was now to die only in the annihila- 
tion of all its parts, without ever having given to its enemy aught 
of triumph or taken upon itself a shadow of shame. 

In the early light of the 9th April, Gordon discovered the 
enemy in his front in heavy force, closing the outlet towards 



160 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

Lynchburg, and was ordered to cut bis way through. Advancing 
with his thill line, he drove the enemy's dismounted cavalry for 
half an hour, until he came upon large masses of infantry just 
forming to advance. It was now apparent that the Federal forces 
were closing in, and extending their cordon of infantry, cavalry, 
and artillery, until the Confederate army was almost completely 
surrounded. Sheridan was in fn^nt, Meade was in the rear, Ord 
was south of the Court-House. The moment seemed to have come 
when in an attempt to extricate itself, what remained of the Army 
of Northern Virginia would be called upon to crown its historic 
fame by a last charge and a glorious death. There were men who 
would have died with Lee, without a murmur, fighting to the last. 
But a wanton sacrifice of human life was far from the thoughts of 
the great commander. 

At first Gen. Lee had recoiled from the idea of surrender. In 
the distress of retreat the idea had been suggested to him by one 
of his officers, and he had answered with concern and in a tone of 
displeasure : " Surrender ! I have too many fighting men for 
that." When on the 7th April, Grant sent a note proposing sur- 
render, Gen. Lee replied by denying the premise assumed by the 
enemy "of the hopelessness of future resistance on the part of the 
Army of Northern Virginia." But the experience of two succeed- 
ing days brought him face to face with the desperate situation ; 
the current was now too strong against him, and he was forced to 
yield. 

As the signs of battle strangely and suddenly ceased by the 
appearance of a flag of truce, Gen. Lee was seen riding rapidly to 
the rear to seek an interview with Grant. 

The object of this sharp ride in the fresh morning was known 
only to the two commanders. After the affair of Sailor's Creek, 
and while Gen. Lee continued his retreat towards Appomattox 
Court-House, the following correspondence had gone on while both 
armies were in motion, unconscious of the silent and significant use 
of the pen that had at last come in to supersede their arms, and 
conclude the drama : 

I. 

April 7. 
Oen. R. E. Lee, Commander C. S. A.: 

Sir : — The result of the last week must convince you of the 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 161 

hopelessness of further resistance on the part of the Arm v of North- 
ern Virginia in this struggle. I feel that it is so, and regard it as mj 
duty to shift from myself the responsibility of any further effusion 
of blood, by asking of you the surrender of that portion of the 
Confederate States army known as the Army of Northern Virginisu 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant- General, 
Commanding Armies of the United States. 

II. 

April 7. 

General : — I have received your note of this date. Though 
not entirely of the opinion you express of the hopelessness of 
further resistance on the part of the Army of Northern Virginia, I 
reciprocate your desire to avoid useless effusion of blood, and, 
therefore, before considering your proposition, ask the terms you 
will offer on condition of its surrender. 

E. E. Lee, General. 
To Lieut.-Gen. U. S. Grant, 

Commanding Armies of the United States. 

III. 

April 8. 
To Gen. JR. E. Lee, Com.manding Confederate States Army : 

General: — Your note of last evening, in reply to mine of same 
date, asking the conditions on which I will accept the surrender of 
the Army of Northern Virginia, is just received. 

In reply, I would say, that peace being my first desire, there 
is but one condition that I insist upon, viz. : 

That the men surrendered shall be disqualified for taking up 
arms against the Government of the United States until properly 
exchanged. 

I will meet you, or designate officers to meet any officers you 
may name for the same purpose, at any point agreeable to you, for 
the purpose of arranging definitely the terms upon which the sur- 
render of the Army of Northern Virginia will be received. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Lieutenant- General, 
Commanding Armies of the United States. 
11 



162 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 



IV. 

Aprils. 

General : — I received, at a late hour, your note of to-day in 
answer to mine of yesterday. 

I did not intend to propose the surrender of the Army of 
Northern Virginia, but to ask the terms of your proposition. To 
be frank, I do not think the emergency has arisen to call for the 
surrender. But, as the restoration of peace should be the sole 
object of all, I desire to know whether your proposals would tend 
to that end. 

I cannot, therefore, meet you with a view to surrender the 
Army of Northern Virginia, but so far as your proposition may 
affect the Confederate States forces under my command, and lead 
to the restoration of peace, I should be pleased to meet you at 
10 a.m. to-morrow, on the old stage-road to Richmond, between 
the picket-lines of tiie two armies. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

R. E. Lee, 
General Confederate States Armies. 
To Lieut.-Gen. Grant, 

Commanding Armies of the United States. 

V. 

April 9. 

Gen. R. E. Lee^ Commanding C. S. A. : 

General: — Your note of yesterday is received. As I have no 
authority to treat on the subject of peace, the meeting proposed for 
10 A.M. to-day could lead to no good. I will state, however, 
General, that I am equally anxious for peace with yourself; and 
the whole North entertain the same feeling. The terms upon 
which peace can be had are well understood. By the South laying 
down their arms they will hasten that most desirable event, save 
thousands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property 
not yet destroyed. 

Sincerely hoping that all our difficulties may be settled without 
the loss of another life, I subscribe m3^self. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, 

Lieut.-Gen. U. S. A. 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 163 



VI. 

•April 9, 1865. 

General : — I received your note of this morning on tbe picket- 
line, whither I had come to meet you and ascertain definitely 
"what terms were embraced in your proposition of yesterday with 
reference to the surrender of this army. 

I now request an interview in accordance with the offer con- 
tained in your letter of yesterday for that purpose. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

E. E. Lee, General. 
To LrEUT.-GEN. Grant, 

CommandiDg United States Annies. 

VII. 

April 9. 
Oen. R. E. Lee, Commandwg Confederate States Armies : 

Your note of this date is but this moment (11.50 A. M.) re- 
ceived. 

In consequence of my having passed from the Richmond and 
Lynchburg road to the Farmville and Lynchburg road, I am at 
this writing about four miles west of Walter's Church, and will 
push forward to the front for the purpose of meeting you. 

Notice sent to me on this road where you wish the interview 
to take place will meet me. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

U. S. Grant, Lieut.-Oen. 

It was in accordance with this intimation that Gen. Lee now 
rode to the rear. The news ran quickly through the Federal and 
Confederate ranks, as they suspended hostilities. While the inter- 
view was taking place between the commanders, the two armies 
watched each other in a strange suspense, readily imagining the 
mighty interests which these two men now weighed in the simple 
farm-house where they had met. Peace might follow this inter- 
view. It might end in resumption of hostilities, in fiercest battle, 
in terrible carnage. The two armies were plainly visible to each 
other. The Confederates skirted a strip of woods in rear of the 
town. Through the vistas of the streets might be seen their wagon- 
trains. The minutes passed but slowly. The approach of every 



164: GENERAL EGBERT EDWARD LEE. 

horseman attracted an eager look. Skirmish line confronting skir- 
mish line, lines of battle confronting lines of battle, cannon con- 
fronting cannon, awaited in dead silence the issue of the pregnant 
hour. 

The interview in which Gen. Lee concluded to surrender his 
army, and resolved the destiny of the Southern Confederacy, is 
certainly one of the most important and memorable single events 
of modern annals. It is usual in history, and a great satisfaction 
to the curious, to relate such events with singular minuteness, 
attending to the slightest circumstances. The author has been 
enabled to give such an account of this interview ; and it is inter- 
esting to notice how this plain circumstantial account, bordering on 
the style of a proces-verhal^ differs from the many attempts to 
dramatize the event, and contradicts nearly every popular story 
that has been recited for sensation. The author has the best evi- 
dence in the M'orld for saying that every account of this interview 
which has hitherto appeared in popular publications contains no 
less than four or five distinct and remarkable errours. 

Thus it has been popularly reported that the first interview 
between the two commanders took place under an apple-tree, which 
has consequently been crowned with historic associations. This is 
false. The fact is, that in the morning of the 9th April, after the 
correspondence between the two commanders had progressed to 
the point referred to in our narrative, Gen. Lee, with a single 
member of his staff, was resting under an apple-tree, when Col. 
Babcock, of Gen. Grant's staff, rode up under a flag of truce, say- 
ing that if Gen. Lee remained where he was. Gen. Grant would 
come to him by the road the latter was then pursuing. This was 
the only interview under or near the apple-tree ; and it may be 
mentioned here that the following day Col. Marshall, who attended 
Gen. Lee on the occasion, was surprised to find Federal soldiers 
hacking at the tree, and was amused at their idea of obtaining 
from it mementoes of the surrender. Obtaining news of Grant's 
approach. Gen. Lee at once ordered Col. Marshall to find a 
fit and convenient house for the interview. Col. Marshall applied 
to the first citizen he met, Mr. Wilmer McLean, and was directed 
to a house vacant and dismantled. He refused to use it, and Mr. 
McLean then offered to conduct him and the General to his 
own residence, a comfortable frame house, with a long portico and 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 165 

convenient " sitting-room," furnished after the bare style of the 
times. 

The house was about half a mile distant from Gen. Lee's camp. 
The Confederate commander was attended only by one of his aides, 
Col. Marshall, a youthful, boyish-looking scion of the old and 
illustrious Marshall family of Virginia, who had been the constant 
companion of Gen. Lee in all his campaigns, and, as his private 
secretary, had shown himself master of the pen as well as of the 
sword. With Grant there were several of his staff-officers ; and a 
number of Federal Generals, including Ord and Sheridan, entered 
the room and joined in the slight general conversation that took 
place there. 

The interview was opened without the least ceremony. The 
story has been frequently repeated that Gen. Lee tendered his 
sword, and that Gen. Grant returned it with a complimentary 
remark. There was no such absurdity. Gen. Lee wore his sword 
(which was not his usual habit), and, on the exchange of saluta- 
tions, Gen. Grant remarked : " I must apologize. General, for not 
wearing my sword ; it had gone off in my baggage, when I 
received your note." Gen. Lee bowed, and at once, and without 
further conversation, asked that Gen. Grant would state, in 
writing if he preferred it, the terms on which he would receive 
the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. Gen. Grant 
complied by sitting at a table in the room, and writing with a 
common lead-pencil the following note : 

Appomattox Coubt-House, April 9, 1865. 
Oen. R. E. Zee, Commanding C. S. A. : 

In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 
8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of North- 
ern Virginia on the following terms, to wit : 

Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, 
one copy to be given to an officer designated by me, the other to 
be retained by such officers as you may designate. 

The officers to give their individual parole not to take arms 
against the Government of the United States until properly 
exchanged ; and each company or regimental commander to sign 
a like parole for the men of their commands. 

The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked and 



166 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

stacked, and turned over to the ofl&cers appointed by me to receive 
them. 

This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their 
private horses or baggage. 

This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to 

their homes, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long 

as they observe their parole and the laws in force where they may 

reside. 

Yery respectfully, 

U. S. Grant, Lieut- General. 

Gen. Lee read the paper with quiet and sober attention ; 
there was no discussion of terms. The common report that Gen. 
Lee expressed any grateful emotion, or characterized the terms as 
generous, is wholly untrue. Such an effusion might have been 
just ; it is a pleasant satisfaction to one party of the curious, but 
it did not occur. The only and single remark he made upon the 
pencilled note was to inquire about the officers' property exempted 
from the surrender, remarking that most of the horses in the ser- 
vice were owned by those using them. The note was handed to 
Col, Badeau, who attended Gen. Grant as secretary, to copy in ink. 
There was but one ink-stand available, and copies were made in 
turn by Col. Badeau and Col. Marshall. This occupied some time, 
and in the interval the Generals made some natural inquiries after 
the health and condition of mutual acquaintances. But there was 
no conversation of general interest except one remark of Gen. Lee, 
that he had some 2,000 or 3,000 Federal prisoners on his hands, 
and feared that he did not have rations to supply them. Gen. 
Sheridan spoke up : "I have rations for 25,000 men." The copy 
of Gen. Grant's note having been obtained in ink. Gen. Lee spoke 
apart to Col. Marshall, who wrote a reply commencing with the 
usual formality, " I have the honour to reply to your communica- 
tion of," &c, which words Gen Lee erased, reducing the reply to 
the following brief sentences : — 

Headqdabtebs Armt of Northern Virginia, 
April 9, 18G5. 
Lieut- Gen. U. S. Grant, Commanding XI. S.A.: 

General : — I have received your letter of this date, containing 
the terms of surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, as pro- 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 167 

posed bj you. As they are substantially tbe same as those express- 
ed in your letter of the 8th inst, they are accepted. I will proceed 
to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect. 
Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

E. E. Lee, General. 

The exchange of these notes terminated the interview. It was 
singularly simple; utterly bald of all rhetorical flourishes and cere- 
monies ; but its very simplicity give it an interest and dignity that 
the most excessive formalities might fail to furnish. The bareness 
of the dialogue should not give the idea of stiffness in the actors ; 
there was nothing of the sort. The manners of both commanders 
were easy, self-possessed, those of plain gentlemen in ordinary inter- 
course, and it is remarkable that no two men of important station 
could be found within the limits of America who so equally abhor- 
red the theatrical as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Gen. Eobert E. Lee. 
The manners and carriage of the latter in the memorable interview 
were thus described by the correspondent of a Northern news- 
paper: "Gen. Lee looked very much jaded and worn, but, never- 
theless, presented the same magnificent physique for which he has 
always been noted. He was neatly dressed in gray cloth, without 
embroidery or any insignia of rank, except three stars worn on the 
turned portion of his coat collar. His cheeks were very much, 
bronzed by exposure, but still shone ruddy underneath it all. He 
is growing quite bald, and wears one of the side locks of his hair 
thrown across the upper portion of his forehead, which is as white 
and fair as a woman's. He stands fully six feet one inch in height, 
and weighs something over two hundred pounds, without being 
burdened with a pound of superfluous flesh. During the whole in- 
terview he was retired and dignified to a degree bordering on taci- 
turnity, but was free from all exhibition of temper or mortification. 
His demeanour was that of a thoroughly possessed gentleman who 
had a very disagreeable duty to perform, but was determined to 
get through it as well and as soon as he could." 

"When Gen. Lee rode back slowly and thoughtfully to his 
headquarters, what had been done was visible in his face, and there 
was no need of words to inform his officers assembled to meet him 
that terms of surrender had been agreed upon, and that the Army 
of Northern Virginia was no more. When he had announced the 



168 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

result to his officers in a few simple words, they approached him 
in order of rank to shake hands and express their satisfaction at 
his course. Many shed tears ; but the ceremony was quiet and 
decorous ; and when at a later hour the fact of surrender and the 
terms were announced to the troops, there was not a shout, not a 
word of exultation even at the prospect of the termination of 
their sufferings, and the observer could scarcely appreciate the 
magnitude of an event unattended by spectacle or dramatic cir- 
cumstance. 

The fact was, the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia 
was an event felt without an exhibition to the eye. There was no 
spectacular conclusion of a struggle that for four years had rocked 
the fields of Virginia ; no dramatization ; the feelings of the troops 
in this respect were magnanimously spared by the enemy. There 
was a Federal column waving a white flag and lines of troops 
fringing a distant hill. There was nothing visible in front but 
these ; no crash of music disturbed the evening air; no cheer was 
heard. On the Confederate side the disbanded lines of attack 
moved across the field with the slow step of mourners. As the 
sun descended the sky it was strange to see that Federal column 
so near, and yet no gun in position to confront it, no line of battle, 
no preparations for action so long familiar to the soldiers who had 
so often snatched their hasty sleep on the verge of battle, thinking 
of the chances of eternity on the morrow. 

The very absence of dramatic accessary in the surrender gives 
it a strange and tender interest. The simple scene in which Gen. 
Lee and his army separated is touching from its very simplicity. 
There was no harangue or ceremony when in the evening of this 
memorable day the men surrounded Gen. Lee's headquarters, and 
without distinction pressed upon the illustrious and beloved com- 
mander, and sought to shake his hand and hear the voice that had 
so often conducted them to battle. It was said that Gen. Lee wept 
on the occasion. He did not ; there were deeper signs of suffering 
— the misty look of unshed tears in a strong man's face as he turned 
to the throng that pressed upon him, and said slowly and painfully : 
" Men, we have fought through the war together. I have done my 
best for you. My heart is too full to say more." 

The formal leave of his army was accomplished the next day in 
the followinof written address: 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 169 

Headquarters Armt Northern Virginia, 
April 10, 1865. 

After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed 
courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been 
compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. 

I need not tell the survivors of so many hard-fought battles, 
who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to 
this result from no distrust of them ; but feeling that valour and 
devotion could accomplish nothing that could compensate for the 
loss that would have attended the continuation of the contest, I 
have determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past 
services have endeared them to their countrymen. 

By the terms of agreement, officers and men can return to their 
homes, and remain there until exchanged. 

You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the 
conscioitsness of duti/ faithfully performed; and I earnestly pray that 
a merciful God will extend to you His blessing and protection. 

With an unceasing admiration of your constancy and devotion 
to your country, and a grateful remembrance of your kind and 
generous consideration of myself, I bid you an affectionate farewell. 

E. E. Lee, General. 

At the final act of surrender Gen. Lee was not present. It was 
executed by commissioners, designated for the purpose, who acceded 
to the following agreement: 

Appomattox Cotjrt-House, Va., April 10, 1865. 
Agreement entered into this day^ in regard to the surrender of the Army 
of Northern Yirginia to the United States authorities. 

First. — The troops shall march by brigades and detachments to 
a designated point ; stack their arms, deposit their flags, sabres, 
pistols, etc., and from thence march to their homes, under charge 
of their officers, superintended by their respective division and 
corps commanders, officers retaining their side-arms and the 
authorized number of private horses. 

Second. — All public horses, and public property of all kinds, 
to be turned over to staff-officers to be designated by the United 
States authorities. 

Third. — Such transportation as may be agreed upon as neces- 



170 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

sary for the transportation of the private baggage of officers will 
be allowed to accompany the officers, to be turned over, at the end 
of the trip, to the nearest United States quartermaster, receipts 
being taken for the same. 

Fourth. — Couriers and mounted men of the artillery and 
cavalry, whose horses are their own private property, will be 
allowed to retain them. 

Fi/ih. — The surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia shall 
be construed to include all the forces operating with that army on 
the 8th instant, the date of the commencement of the negotiations 
for surrender, except such bodies of cavalry as actually made their 
escape previous to the surrender, and except, also, such pieces of 
artillery as were more than twenty miles from Appomattox Court- 
House at the time of surrender on the 9th instant. 
(Signed) John Gibbon, Maj.-Gen. Volunteers. 

Charles Griffin, Brevet Maj.- Oen. U. S. Vols. 

"W". Merritt, Brevet Maj.- Gen. 

J. LoNGSTREET, Lieut.-Gen. 

J. B. Gibbon, Maj.-Gen. 

W. N. Pendleton, Brig.-Oen. and Chief of Artillery. 

A few days after the surrender. Gen. Lee rode into the city of 
Eichmond he had so long defended, and passed through its black- 
ened streets, a paroled prisoner of war. He entered the city with 
no display, accompanied by five members of his staff, took the 
shortest route to his house, and appeared anxious to avoid all kind 
of public demonstration. He had so often passed through those 
streets, the object of all eyes, attended by the admiration of the 
populace ! Though he came back now a fallen commander, though 
his arrival w^as unexpected, he found in quickly gathered crowds 
evidence that the people still loved him ; evidence that the enemy 
respected him. The first cheers that had been heard from citi- 
zens since the scarred and blackened city cringed under the flag of 
the enemy, now ran along the streets, and brave and noble-minded 
men, in Federal uniform, raised their caps, as the former Com- 
mander-in-chief of the Southern Confederacy passed before their 
eyes, with hair white as snow, and care-worn face, but with touch- 
ing and unspeakable dignity. To the doors of his house he was 
followed by a large crowd, who cheered him as heartily as if he 



GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 171 

had ridden into Eichmond at the head of a victorious army. It 
was no word that he spoke, for he did not open his lips. It was 
no gesture, no sign of emotion, for he rode on without other recog- 
nition of the crowd than occasionally to raise his hat. It was his 
presence and its signification that moved the people of Eichmond 
to a demonstration, in which men forgot their own sorrow, dis- 
regarded the presence of a hostile army, and gave way to the 
glory and gratitude of the past. The occasion was that of the 
last token of visible public respect to the memory of the Southern 
Confederacy, made in face of the enemy, who neither interrupted 
the demonstration, nor gainsaid the tribute it implied. 



172 GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 



CHAPTER XIY. 

An interesting interview with Gen. Lee after the surrender. — Remarks upon the 
Federal rule. — Indicted for " treason." — Proceedings stayed on the protest of Gen. 
Grant. — Explanation of Gen. Lee's course with reference to amnesty, etc. — Elect- 
ed President of Washington College. — The true spirit of his advice of " submis- 
sion." — His hopes for the repose and welfare of the South. 

When Gen. Lee entered his house in Richmond, he showed a 
disposition to shut himself in its four walls, and to exclude all 
visitors, with the exception of a very few especial friends. There 
was no bitterness in this disposition. There are times in the lives 
of all men when retirement is decorous and necessary. In the 
career of the great man there are pauses where he rests with 
dignity, weighs past and future, collects the scattered thoughts, and 
courts solitude for the self-communion. 

An intimate friend of Gen. Lee, who secured an interview with 
him shortly after his return to Richmond, gives the following 
account of what transpired, and quotes the words of the fallen 
commander as precisely as he can recollect : 

"I had seen him on the field of battle and in victory. I 
desired to hear how such a man would talk in adversity. When 
inquiring what guaranty he had that Gen. Grant's terms would be 
observed, he remarked that he had no assurance beyond his per- 
sonal good faith, upon which he relied. He said that the civil 
authorities might nullify Gen. Grant's conditions and exact new 
ones, as they seemed then by degrees doing ; but that it would be 
in spite of Grant's efforts to the contrary, remarking that he had 
written to him, calling his attention to the violation of the terms of 
surrender in the imposition of new conditions; and though he had 
received no answer, he had implicit faith in the honour of Gen. 
Grant, and in his determination to stand up to the spirit of his 
stipulations. I remarked that the paroled officers and men were 
in a great dilemma as to what to do ; and in view of the condition 
of the country and the gloomy future, many were talking of 



GENERAL BOBERT EDWARD LEE. 173 

emigrating to other countries. With a dignity and impressiveness 
I shall never forget, and with a sigh that came from the depths of 
a saddened heart, he replied that the condition of our people was, 
indeed, most deplorable. With everj species of industry pros- 
trated, the resources of the country exhausted, want and destitu- 
tion threatening almost every one, it was a sad spectacle to con- 
template, and the duty of every one was clear, but in one respect. 
'What course I shall pursue,' said he, 'I have not decided upon, 
and each man must be the judge of his own action. We must 
all, however, resolve on one thing — not to abandon our country. 
Now, more than at any other time, Virginia, and every other State 
in the South, needs us. We must try and, with as little delay as 
possible, go to work to build up their prosperity. The young 
men, especially, must stay at home, bearing themselves in such a 
manner as to gain the esteem of every one, at the same time that 
they maintain their own self-respect.' In allusion to the oath 
which it was required to take before entering upon any pursuit, he 
remarked that he hoped that would be regarded as violating the 
terms of surrender, and be no longer required ; but ' meanwhile,' 
said he, * what can we do ? Hundreds of brave and gallant men 
have families starving. Without money, they cannot even work 
for their sustenance, unless they take the oath under Gen. Halleck's 
order. We cannot even claim protection from violence. If I walk 
upon the street, and a ruffian choses to seize my watch in the eye of 
day, and in a street full of witnesses, I can have no recourse unless 
I have taken the oath. In fact, the practical operation of the sys- 
tem, as now conducted, is to outlaw all of us who decline to take 
the oath. My only hope at present is that the power of Gen. Grant 
will prevail in requiring the strict observance of the terms of my 
surrender.' " 

The order of things at Washington soon called Gen. Lee to 
attend to his personal position. President Johnson's proclamation 
of amnesty was soon issued ; and shortly thereafter the outrage 
was perpetrated of framing an indictment for treason against Gen. 
Lee in the Federal court at Norfolk. Proceedings, however, were 
withheld at the interposition of Gen. Grant, who very properly and 
manfully insisted that such a prosecution would compromise the 
engagements he had made in the surrender at Appomattox Court- 
House. 



174: GENERAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE. 

In his farewell address to bis army, Gen. Lee had expressed his 
last conviction of the justice of the cause for which he had fought, 
and had pleaded the satisfaction of a "consciousness of duty." 
It is certainly in apparent opposition to such sentiments that he 
should have sought amnesty for the past, and been willing to di- 
rect an application to Washington for pardon. There were some 
hasty strictures on this conduct ; but, taken in the light of subse- 
quent explanations, it is found to be the noblest part of Gen. Lee's 
life, consistent with all he had done, and characteristic of his un- 
selfish spirit. There was no passionate chagrin of defeat when 
Gen. Lee surrendered his army. He had fought gallantly while 
by fighting he could hope to achieve any practicable result; but 
when the fate of war determined such hope, submission became a 
duty, humanity spared the useless effusion of blood, and honour 
demanded compliance with the arbitration of arms. But Gen. 
Lee proposed to go further than the sheer act of submission, and 
determined to show a lively acquiescence in the result, to manifest 
renewed allegiance to the Federal authority, and under its direction 
to qualify himself afresh for the active pursuits of life. It was a 
determination taken in no selfish spirit; he knew the immense 
weight of his name with his countrymen ; he saw with pain and 
anxiety the disordered condition of the South ; and he resolved to 
give an example of acquiescence in the new order — an example of 
ready resumption of the active duties of life calculated to restore 
the public spirit and reestablish some of the prosperity of former 
times. His duty to the South was not yet ended, and he had no 
false pride to set above the true interests of his country. Even if 
his own desires pointed to retirement, and he had been content 
to reject all relations with the new authority, while he gave it the 
bare submission conditioned in his parole*, and rested on a reputa- 
tion complete in history, there was a higher sense of duty which 
contemplated the peculiar necessities of his Southern countrymen, 
and prompted him by his personal example to assist in the restora- 
tion of a cordial and lasting peace. To secure such a peace it was 

* The following is a copy of the parole sigued by Gen Lee and his staff-officers : 
" We, the undersigned, prisoners of war belonging to the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia, having been this day surrendered by Gen. R. E. Lee, commanding said army, 
to Lieut.-Gen. Grant, commanding the armies of the United States, do hereby give 
our solemn parole of honour that we will not hereafter serve in the armies of the Con- 



GEJ^jKRAL ROBERT EDWARD LEE, 175 

not only necessary that the South should abandon its arms, but 
abandon also all enmity and negative position, and accept with 
cheerful alacrity the changes of the time. It was mainly from unself- 
ish considerations such as these, and yet with much of that natu- 
ral elasticity with which the true hero rises from misfortune and 
takes up the broken thread of his life, that Gen. Lee resolved to 
emerge from retirement and qualify himself for whatever active 
employment the broken fortunes of the South might now bestow 
upon him. 

It has been well remarked since the war that the truest Con- 
federate, the man who now gives the best proofs of wisdom and 
affection for the land he loves, is not he who disputes and dispar- 
ages the restored Federal authority, or resents the results of the war 
by private violence, or shows an unjust temper to the unoffending 
negro. The standard of Southern patriotism is now quite to the 
contrary. He comes best up to it, who gave his whole heart and 
soul to the cause when the war prevailed ; who fought, and would 
"willingly have died for it ; but who, having surrendered, observes 
with a scrupulous and knightly fidelity all its terms and conditions, 
and all the obligations implied by the oaths he took ; who keeps 
the peace, aims at the repose and welfare of his people, and, by ex- 
ample and influence, endeavours so to shape the Southern conduct, 
as to leave the North no excuse for the further exclusion of the 
South from her proper place in the Union. Such a model South- 
ern man, such a true Confederate, was Gen. Lee. 

federate States, or in any military capacity whatever, against the United States of 
America, or render aid to the enemies of the latter, until properly exchanged in such 
manner as shall be mutually approved by the relative authorities. 

R. E. Lee, General. 

W. H. Taylor, Lieut- Col. and A. A. G. 

Chas. S. Vexable, Lieut- Col. and A. A. G. 

Chas. Marshall, Lieut-Col. and A. A. G. 

H. E. Praton, Lieut- Col. and Inspector- General. 

Giles Brooke, Major and A. A. Surgeon^ Gen. 

H. S. YouxG, A. A. General 
Done at Appomattox Conrt-House, Va., ) 
this ninth (9) day of April, 1865." f 

The parole was countersigned as follows : 

The above-named ofiBcers will not be disturbed by United States authorities as 
long as they observe their parole and the laws in force where they may reside. 

Geo. H. Sharps, 
General^ and Assistant Provost- Marshal. 



176* GENEEAX, KOBEET E. LEE. 

On the 28tli of September, 18G5, be became President of "Wasli- 
iugton College, at Lexington, Virginia, The college was one 
■svhich already held a fair rank among those schools peculiar to 
the United States — institutions of learning with systems of instruc- 
tion little more enlarged than that at Eton, yet having nearly full 
university powers. But the position was one to attract a man like 
Lee. The institution itself mainly owed its existence to the fos- 
tering care of "Washington, the fi'iend and former commander of 
Lee's father, the " Light Horse Harry " of the Revolutionary 
War. Lexington was in many respects an agreeable residence, 
retired from the world without being entirely isolated, and having 
within it a refined and agreeable society ; and it had been the 
home of Lee's favorite lieutenant, Stonewall Jackson, and was 
now his burial-place. Although the duties imposed by the station 
were arduous, there was every prospect that ability, tact, and 
energy would soon raise the school to a commanding position, and 
render it not only prosperous of itself, but of great usefulness to 
the South, whose best institutions of the kind had been injured 
by the long contest from which she had just emerged. General 
Lee, therefore, accepted the trust ; an able faculty was summoned 
to aid him ; and he entered on the duties of his position to the 
general satisfaction of the Southern people, who desired to see his 
brilliant faculties brought out in some sphere of public service. 

A single passage from the letter of General Lee accepting the 
situation will serve to show his feelings at the time, as well as the 
frankness and good faith with which he yielded to the situation, 
and his earnest desire for the restoration of an era of good-will : 
" It is the duty of every citizen," he wrote, " in the present con- 
dition of the country, to do all in his power to aid in the resto- 
ration of peace and harmony, and in no way to oppose the policy 
of the State or General Government directed to that object," To 
this view he quietly and firmly adhered, never sufiering himself to 
be drawn into the political movements around him, but devoting 
his entire time to promoting the interests of the college under his 
presidency. He remained an interested but passive spectator of 
events. In 1868, when at the White Sulphur Springs, endeavor- 
ing to restore the health injured by the labors and responsibilities 
of the war, and his own personal misfortunes. General Lee was 
invited, with several other notables of the South, by General 



GENERAL EGBERT E. LEE. lit" 

Hosecrans, to give his views upon tlie condition of affairs. But 
he went no further than to give, after earnest solicitation, his 
opinion of the most politic course to be pursued towards the 
South. He soon returned to the college, which, under his wise 
management, aided somewhat by his great name, continued to 
prosper until it has grown to be a fixed institution of the South, 
with a large attendance of students from all parts of the Union. 
The course he pursued, though others might decline to adopt it, 
was so evidently prompted by that sense of duty that guided liim 
throughout, that it never lost him any of the respect and love of 
the Southern people, but added to their entire confidence and 
profound admiration. 

About this time there was an attempt made by the notorious 
Judge Underwood to annoy General ""Lee, and, through the 
officiousness of the former, an indictment for treason against the 
latter was obtained in the Federal Court. The affair excited 
indignation even among some of the most violent Radical parti- 
sans. General Lee quietly wrote upon the subject to Genera) 
Grant, calling his attention to this violation of the terms of the 
safe-conduct granted in the case of the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia. General Grant protested against the action as a piece of 
bad faith on the part of the Government, and through his protest 
the movement was abandoned. 

Recently, General Lee had occasion to travel south of Yirginia, 
on private business. His journey was entirely on his own affairs, 
and devoid of display. But in spite of the fact that he shunned 
the manifestation, his progress was a continued ovation ; and all 
classes seemed to vie with each other in testifying their love and 
admiration for the man who was first in the hearts of the people 
of his section. 

But the fatigues and anxieties of war, and the disappointed 
hope of seeing peace and brotherly affection restored between the 
people of the North and South, while they could not affect the 
mind, did their baleful work silently and effectually upon the 
body. On Wednesday, the 28th day of September, 1870, 
five years after he had assumed the duties of the Presidency 
of the College, he came from the chapel service, which he always 
attended, and spent the remainder of the morning in business of 
the institution. At four o'clock in the afternoon he presided 



178* GENERAL EGBERT E. LEE. 

over a meeting of the vestry of his church. There was a session 
of three hours, in which matters of interest and importance to 
the church were under discussion. He returned home just in 
time for the evening meal, and sat down to the tea-table with his 
family. While there he was suddenly attacked by a loss of 
speech and motion. General alarm and regret was the result of 
tliis, and a report of his death was soon prevalent. This was 
telegraphed to the North, and from thence to England, where it 
evoked a general expression of regret. But this was soon con- 
tradicted, for he rallied next morning ; and the hope of the 
physicians was, as there were no symptoms of paralysis or apo- 
plexy, that the attack would prove to be mere nervous irritation, 
the result of overwork, and would soon be removed by rest and 
enforced leisure. The prognosis in his case was rather favorable 
than otherwise, until the 10th of the following month. He had 
recovered his speech, though he spoke but little, and that merely 
in answer to questions about his condition. It is true that he 
lay for the most time in a state of stupor, partly, perhaps, from 
the efi'ects of the necessary sedatives, but when aroused he was 
quite conscious, and everything showed that his intellect was 
unclouded. He seemed to have, however, no hope of recovery. 
On the Saturday previous to his death he seemed so much better 
that Dr. Madison, one of the attending physicians, remarked to 
him in a playful way : " General, you must make haste and get 
np from this bed. Traveller " — this was the General's favorite 
riding-horse — " is getting lazy, and you must make haste and 
give him the exercise he needs." The General fixed his eyes 
steadily on the Doctor, and then, without saying a word, shook 
his head emphatically, as though to express his conviction that 
he would never ride Traveller again. His physicians and friends 
hoped otherwise. But on Monday his case assumed an alarming 
change. At times his mind wandered slightly, reverting to army 
affairs. Once he ordered his tents to be struck, and at another 
time asked " Hill" to be sent for. He gradually sank from that 
time until Wednesday, the 12th of October, when at half-past 
nine o'clock in the morning he died. 

The announcement of his death, coming so soon after the former 
contradiction, was unexpected. It was received through the 
North with general regret, and in the South with the most pro- 



GENERAL KOBEET E. LEE. 179* 

found grief. All kinds of men concurred in declaring " that a 
great man had fallen in Israel." The students of the College, the 
people of Lexington, and in all the cities and towns of the South 
met to express publicly their sorrow for the loss, and their sym- 
pathy with the bereaved family. The corporate authorities of 
Southern cities and towns ordered, with striking unanimity, the 
display of tokens of the mourning into which the whole commu- 
nity was plunged. The Governor of Virginia sent a special mes- 
sage to the Legislature then in session, announcing the melancholy 
event in appropriate terms ; and the Legislature, by an unani- 
mous vote, passed a series of resolutions expressing their sense of 
the great loss of Virginia, and requesting the remains of the 
General to be handed over to a committee of both Houses, to be 
interred in Hollywood Cemetery, at the cost of the State. The 
journals of the country, of both political parties, took the same 
tone in their notice of the event. Some measured their praise, 
and showed their disapproval of his cause decidedly; but whether 
tliey did or did not stop over his grave to discuss the merits of a 
ruined cause, they all recognized him as a great captain and an 
honest man, the purest and best of all the military leaders of the 
South. 

In the silent dignity with which he accepted the result, and the 
placid resignation with which he bore his reverses, he commanded 
the respect of his foes, as he deserved the love of his friends. Of 
that picture of thwarted endeavor and ruined hopes he was the 
central figure. Men recognized the abilities and purity of John- 
ston and Beauregard, as well as the courage and piety of Stone- 
wall Jackson ; but the popular heart turned instinctively to 
Lee as the chief of all. And the feeling of a people to the 
leader of a lost cause becomes the verdict of history. The very 
pet name — " Uncle Robert " — which was given him by soldiers 
and citizens, as well as the profound grief which shrouded the 
extinct Confederacy when he died, showed his position, and no 
cold, calculating military criticism can rob him of that. 

As a soldier, Lee stands amono- the great masters of the art of 
war. It is not enough to say of him, with the New York Tri- 
hune, that in defensive-passive ability, he was "unequalled 
throughout the war on either side " — though, when we consider 
that his forces were always numerically inferior to those of his 



180* GENERAL EOBEKT E. LEE, 

antagonists, higher praise conhl scarcely be a\varded. That he 
was equall}'' great in oflfensive operations, when opportunity oflered, 
is evident by a careful review of the mantjeuvres before Rich- 
mond, which resulted in driving back an army of invasion of 
superior numbers, and sending it, broken and dispirited, under the 
shelter of its gunboats, with its ranks shattered, and its leader's 
power destroyed. The closing campaign, lost to the South from 
the persistency and exhaustless resources of the North, is without 
parallel in the military history of the world. By alternate skilful 
retreat and audacious attack, by the careful management of few 
men and scanty means, and by a consummate generalship, he in- 
flicted a loss upon Grant beyond the numbers of his own command, 
drove his antagonist frotn the line upon which he had declared 
he would tight all summer, threw him off in a tangent from 
every point of the circle, and finally forced him to sit down be- 
fore the earthworks of Petersburg, where he kept his masses at 
bay so long as there remained under his command any show of 
force. We do not detract from the merits of the soldiers on either 
side when we say that no other man, with the same means and 
the same resources, could have waged the unequal fight so long 
and so well. 

As a man, Lee deserved all the respect and affection with which 
he was regarded. The popular esteem was won by none of the 
arts for acquiring popularity. It came from his well-balanced 
character. All men admitted his high sense of honor, his unos- 
tentatious practice of all the Christian virtues, his true religious 
feeling, his calm endurance of untoward results, and his quiet 
observance of the duties of life. Indeed, the key to his action is 
to be found in the letter to his son, where he says — " D^^ty is the 
sublimest word in our language." No one doubted his purity of 
motive. In manner, quiet, courteous, and dignified ; in morals, 
irreproachable; in intellect, strong, clear, and self-poised; a gen- 
tleman by habit, instinct, and descent ; a Christian, not only exact 
in the observances of his church, but illustrating his faith by his 
daily doin^^ he was one of the few marked men of his time— one 
of those who are beloved while living, and venerated when 
dead. 



LIEUT.-GE]^. STONEWALL JACKSON. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Boyhood of Thomas Jonathan Jackson. — His experience at West Point. — His studies 
and habits. — A novel analysis of awkward manners. — Jackson's promotions in the 
Mexican War. — His love of fight. — Recollections of " Fool Tom Jackson " at Lex- 
ington. — A study of his face and character. — His prayers for " the Union." — A 
reflection on Christian influences in America. — Jackson appointed a colonel in 
the Virginia forces. — In command at Harper's Ferry. — Constitution of the " Stone- 
wall Brigade." — Jackson promoted to Brigadier. — His action on the field of Ma- 
nassas. — He turns the enemy's flank and breaks his centre. — How much of the 
victory was due him. — His expedition towards the head waters of the Potomaa 

Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born at Clarksburg, in 
Harrison county, Virginia, in 1824. He came of a Scotch-Irish 
family that had settled in Virginia in 1748 ; and a perhaps fanci- 
ful relation has been traced between his ancestral stock and that 
of Andrew Jackson, the seventh President of the United States. 
In 1827, he was left one of three penniless orphans ; his father, 
Jonathan Jackson, a lawyer of moderate repute, and a man of 
social and facile temper, having wrecked a good estate by an im- 
prudent and irregular life. The early life of the orphan was harsh 
and erratic. He found shelter with one or another of his relatives, 
until at last he obtained a pleasant home and countenance in the 
house of an uncle, Cummins Jackson, residing in Lewis county. 
Here he remained until he was sixteen years old. The early 
adversity and buffet of his life appear to have inspired the boy 
with singular determination ; and among the first signs of charac- 
ter we find in him is a sensitive ambition reflecting painfully on 
his dependence on his relatives, and coupled with the resolution to 
reinstate himself in the ranks of his kindred, and rise from the 
position to which orphanage and destitution had thrust him«. 

12 



178 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

There were no aristocratic names or traditions of great wealth in 
his family ; but among the peculiar population of Western Vir- 
ginia the Jacksons were known as an energetic, dominant stock, 
making distinct impressions on the new country, potential in their 
neighbourhoods, filling the county offices and places of local dis- 
tinction, marked by strong and characteristic features, and disposed 
to be clannish in their family associations. To assert his proper 
position in this close and influential kindred, and to recover from 
his position as dependent in the house of one of them, appears to 
have been the first ambition of young Jackson, and the first 
instance of serious resolution in his life. 

He resolved to obtain an education. lie had access to what is 
called in Virginia the " old-field school ; " he might there learn to 
read and " cipher ; " but his mind was set upon acquisitions far 
beyond these rudiments of learning; and at the age of sixteen we 
find him having recourse to the ofiice of constable and collector, 
and hoping from its paltry fees to collect means to enable him to 
realize to some extent his ardent desire for a liberal education. At 
this time there appears to have been in young Jackson's mind no 
thought of a military career, or aspiration after the profession of 
the soldier. The direction of his life to military employments was 
purely accidental, and came to pass through his general desire for 
an education of some better sort than he was able to get in his 
neighbourhood. Happening to learn that in the military school at 
West Point there was a vacancy from the Congressional district 
which he inhabited, and perceiving here an opportunity to obtain 
a thorough scientific education at the expense of the Government, 
he eagerly caught at it, and at once obtained letters of recommen- 
dation to the member of Congress representing his district, and 
qualified to nominate him to the Secretary of War. The letters 
were dispatched at once. But so anxious and active was the boy 
that he determined to make the journey to Washington, and 
enforce his application by every possible means. Part of the jour- 
ney was performed on foot. The ardent country youth, clothed in 
homespun, with his leathern saddle-bags on his shoulder, made 
liis difficult and curious way to the Federal capital. Without 
delaying even to change his dress, he ascertained the address of 
the Congressman, Mr. Hays, and, accompanied by his j)atroii, 
with the stains of travel upon him, he was introduced at the \Var 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 179 

Department, and the circumstances of his journey related there. 
The Secretary of War was at once pleased with the evidence of the 
boy's resolution, and his manifestation of an honourable desire of 
improvement ; and the warrant of young Jackson, as a cadet, was 
made out on the spot. 

The four years of our hero's life spent at "West Point were, to 
the common apprehension, of but little promise. He had gone 
there with very defective literary qualifications and no special prep- 
aration whatever for the course of study ; he showed no natural 
sprightliness of mind; his acquisition of knowledge was slow and 
laborious, but he had the advantage of studying with great thor- 
oughness and honesty ; and although in the first year he barely 
escaped being ruled among the " incompetents," he advanced his 
grade each year, and by steps of remarkable distinctness showed 
what resolute toil may accomplish in a race with minds of easier 
disposition. In his first year his "general standing" had been 51 ; 
in his second, 30 ; in his third, 20 ; in his fourth it was 17. In the 
same class with him were Generals McClellan, Foster, Reno, Stone- 
man, Couch, and Gibbon, of the United States army afterwards ; and 
Generals A. P. Hill, Pickett, Maury, D. R. Jones, W. D. Smith, 
and Wilcox, of the Confederate States army. In such a company 
Jackson was scarcely the man to be designated for future preem- 
inence; but to the studious observer his steady steps of ascent, and 
above all his unlimited confidence in himself, were true signs of 
future greatness. The young man who wrote in a private book of 
" maxims," *• You may be whatever you resolve to be," who made 
this the practical dogma of his life, and who was heard repeatedly 
to declare that "he could alwa^'s do what he willed to accomplish," 
had shown that supreme confidence in himself which, distinguished 
from vanity and conceit, never expressing itself offensively, always 
associated with quietude and modesty of manner, is the unfailing 
mark of greatness. 

Such a confidence resides in all great minds; a peculiar con- 
fidence, supreme, quiet, waiting its time, rather approaching aus- 
terity than conceit, never unpleasant in its expression, disposed to 
silence and solitude, and often exhibiting that shyness and embar- 
rassment in general companies which were early remarked as pecu- 
liarities in Jackson's behaviour, and superficially ascribed to a 
naturally graceless manner. The world makes no greater mistake 



180 LIEUT. -GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

tlian to designate as " modest" men, or as persons holding low opin- 
ions of themselves, those who are awkward and bashful in society, 
who blush easily when confronted in a general conversation, or 
are constrained and embarrassed in the conventionalisms of social 
intercourse. But an observation more studious than that of the 
drawing-room and general assembly often discovers under such 
manners the very sensitiveness of a supreme self-appreciation, the 
chafe or reserve of a great proud spirit without opportunitj-- to 
assert itself. It is thus we may explain how the shy and clumsy 
manners of Jackson, which made him the butt of social companies, 
yet covered an enormous self-regard and masked the ambition 
which devoured him. A recent biographer declares : " The recol- 
lection is still preserved of many of his personal peculiarities ; his 
simplicity and absence of suspicion when all around him were 
laughing at some of his odd ways ; his grave expression and air 
of innocent inquiry when some jest excited general merriment, and 
he could not see the point; his solitary habits and self-contained 
deportment ; his absence of mind, awkwardness of gait, and evident 
indifference to every species of amusement." These eccentricities 
were the subjects of jesting comment among the companions of 
the obscure man : they have since been recited as curiosities of 
greatness. 

In the Mexican War Jackson's ambition was like a consuming 
fire ; he sought the earliest distinction, and from West Point he 
immediately reported for duty on the field, in Mexico, where he 
was assigned to the First regiment of heavy artillery. His record 
in this war was a succession of active and daring services ; he was 
always seeking the post of danger, and the opportunity of distinc- 
tion. For "gallant and meritorious conduct at the siege of Vera 
Cruz," he was promoted to the rank of first-lieutenant. In the 
battles of Contreras and Cherubusco, he again obtained distinction, 
and was brevetted captain. Intent upon the opportunity of dis- 
tinction, he had obtained a transfer to light artillery service, then 
almost an experiment in American warfare, and an arm, the pecu- 
liarit}' of which was to be always thrust forward to the post of dan- 
ger and of honour. At Chapultepec he had charge of a section of 
Magruder's famous light field-battery, and had pushed forward 
until he found himself unexpectedly in the presence of a strong 
battery of the enemy, at so short a range that its whirlwind of iron, 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 181 

tore man and horse to pieces. The cannoneers were either struck 
down or fled from their pieces, until only Jackson and a sergeant 
were left in the storm of fire. At this time, Capt. Magruder dashed 
forward ; a shot cut his horse from under him ; he ordered Jackson 
to withdraw his guns, one of which the heroic officer was yet serv- 
ing, with the sponge-staff in his hand. Jackson remonstrated ; he 
could hold his ground, he declared, and if they would send him 
fifty veterans, he would capture the battery which had so crippled 
his. Magruder, enthused by such a display of spirit, acquiesced, 
the men were sent, and Jackson immediately advanced his section, 
which was soon thundering after the discomfited Mexicans towards 
the gates of the city. For his gallantry on this occasion Jackson 
received the brevet rank of major. 

To this rank Jackson had risen within seven months, from the 
position of brevet second-lieutenant. He was promoted oftener 
for meritorious conduct than any other officer in the whole army 
in Mexico ; he had made a greater stride in rank than any of his 
competitors ; he had obtained high and remarkable commendation 
in the official reports; Magruder, his immediate superiour, wrote 
of him: " If devotion, industry, talent and gallantry, are the high- 
est qualities of a soldier, then he is entitled to the distinction which 
their possession confers." The ambition of Jackson was at once 
gratified and stimulated ; and from this time he appears to have 
conceived most strongly the idea that war was his true vocation, 
and that his way to distinction was the career of the soldier. And 
he was profoundly right in this estimate of himself. He was, by 
nature, a soldier. And although we afterwards find him in 
the quiet walk of a professor at the Virginia Military Institute, 
possessed by a remarkable religious zeal, a fervid member of the 
church, delighting in the exercises of piety, yet at the bottom of 
the man, and to the day of his death, was the same dominant, com- 
bative nature, the same disposition delighting in antagonism and 
conflict that he had displayed on the fields of Mexico. To the last, 
with all his piety and kindliness, Jackson loved the battle, and 
confessed to a peculiar exaltation and delight in its hot atmosphere 
— the irrepressible emotion, indeed, of the born soldier. 

In 1851, Jackson was elected a professor in the Military Institute 
of Virginia, at Lexington, securing a preference over McClellan, 
Eeno, Rosecrans, and G. W. Smith, whose names were submitted 



182 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

by the Faculty of West Point. Here the recollection is preserved 
of him as a stiff, earnest, military figure, eccentric and abstracted 
in his habits, practising a military exactness in the courtesies of 
society, an oddity on the street, a "blue-light" Presbyterian, a 
harsh, awkward teacher of youth, punished by his scholars with 
the name of '' Fool Tom Jackson." It is surprising what different 
opinions have been held as to the comeliness of the man. To the 
vulgar eye he was a clumsy-looking man, and his roughly-cut fea- 
tures obtained for him the easy epithet of an ugly man. But to 
the eye that makes of the human face theja7iua animi, and exam- 
ines in it the traces of character and spirit, the countenance of Jack- 
son was superlatively noble and interesting. The outline was 
coarse ; the reddish beard was scraggy ; but he had a majestic 
brow, and in the blue eyes was an introverted expression, and just 
sufficient expression of melancholy to show the deeply earnest man. 
But the most striking feature, the combative sign of the face, was 
the massive iron-bound jaw — that which BuJwer declares to be the 
mark of the conqueror, the facial characteristic of Csesar, and Wil- 
liam of Normandy, the latter of whom he has brought before our 
eyes in one of his most splendid romances. In brief, while common 
curiosity saw nothing to admire in Jackson, a closer scrutiny dis- 
covered a rare and interesting study. It was not the popular 
picture of a bizarre and austere hero : it was that of a plain gentle- 
man of ordinary figure, but with a lordly face, in which serious and 
noble thoughts were written without effort or affectation. 

It is more interesting than the world takes it to study a charac- 
ter like that of Jackson in repose, as when withdrawn to the tran- 
quil life of professor. In such times there appears to be a tender- 
ness of great minds, a disposition to poetical sentiment, strangely in 
contrast with the fiery and active life in other circumstances. Stern 
and dull as Jackson appeared in the routine of professor, there was 
a concealed poetry in his nature, a strange tenderness in those 
reveries which common observers regarded only as absence and 
blankness of mind. We have read no more simple and touching 
tribute to the beauties of nature, and their soothing influence, than 
that contained in a private letter of Jackson written during his 
quiet term of years at Lexington. " I love," wrote Professor Jack- 
son, " to stroll abroad after the labours of the day are over, and 
indulge feelings of gratitude to God for all the sources of natural 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON". 183 

beauty with which He has adorned the earth. Some time since 
my morning walks were rendered very delightful by the singing 
of the birds. The morning carolling of the birds, and their notes 
in the evening, awaken in me devotional feelings of -praise and 
gratitude, though very different in their nature. In the morning, 
all animated nature (man excepted) appears to join in active 
expressions of gratitude to God ; in the evening, all is hushing into 
silent slumber, and thus disposes the mind to meditation," But in 
these tranquil scenes and exquisite reveries the life of Jackson was 
not destined to pass. The warriour was to be called to the field 
again. The stormy music of battle that had saluted his ambitious 
youth was to summon his more mature but not less ambitious man- 
hood to the hard-fought fields of a mighty contest, and celebrate 
there the chief interest and glory of his life. 

In the discussion of parties which preceded the great war in 
America, Jackson was found an adherent of the Union. He 
deprecated that enormous aggregate of woe which he foresaw 
would ensue from a war so peculiar; and in a conversation with 
his pastor but a little while before the catastrophe, he suggested 
the idea that all the Christian people of the land should be induced 
to unite in a concert of prayer to avert the calamities of civil strife. 
The idea was characteristic and forcible. But it is a significant 
commentary on that want of vital practical Christianity which 
foreigners have remarked in the churches of America, that these 
bodies, with all their boasts of numbers and influence, were not 
only incompetent to avert the horrours of fratricidal contest, but 
powerless to make the least visible impression on events, and 
unable at any time of the ensuing conflict to give tone or qualifica- 
tion to the war. The influence of the American churches was null ; 
events hurried on ; the tempest of passion continued to rise; the 
battle of Sumter was fought; Virginia withdrew from the Union; 
and Jackson, now resolved to do his duty to his State, ofiered his 
sword and service at Richmond to what had now become the dis- 
tinct side of right in a war which it was no longer possible to avoid. 
He left Lexington at a half-day's notice, taking no time to arrange 
his private affairs. It was Sunday when an order came to march 
the cadets to Richmond ; Jackson mustered them for a parting 
prayer by his pastor, devoted an hour to religious exercises, and 
then turned his back on the peaceful home, where his familiar 



184 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

figure was never to return but as a corpse bedewed and sanctified 
by the tears of a nation. 

After his arrival in Eichmond Jackson performed various 
duties in thfe camp of instruction and in the engineer department. 
While he was thus engaged, Governor Letcher nominated him for 
colonel in the Virginia forces, and indicated that he would take 
command at Norfolk or Harper's Ferry. When the nomination 
was communicated to the State Convention there was some distrust 
and hesitation, so important were these points then considered. 
Some one inquired, " Who is this Major Jackson, to whom we are 
asked to confide so important a trust ? " " He is one," replied the 
member from Eockbridge, " who if you order him to hold a post, 
will never leave it alive in the face of an enemy." The recom- 
mendation was so much to the taste of the Convention that Jack- 
son's appointment was at once and unanimously confirmed. 

On the 8d May, 1861, he took command of the forces assembled 
at Harper's Ferry. Here a most important and difiicult task 
awaited him in moulding and organizing into an army a mass of 
raw volunteers, who had been thrown into almost inextricable con- 
fusion by the revocation of the commissions of all the militia 
oflEicers in command of them ; who exhibited scarcely a sign of dis- 
cipline ; who were without an ordnance department, and had not 
more than five or six rounds of ammunition to the man. Jackson 
speedily reduced this crude material to order and consistency ; 
secured transportation, collected artillery horses, obtained ammuni- 
tion, drilled the troops, equipped them as far as he could, and in a 
few weeks showed the result of his enormous labours in a compact 
little army of nine regiments, and two battalions of infantry, four 
companies of artillery, and about three hundred cavalry. 

When the Confederate authority was established at Eichmond, 
Gen. Joseph E. Johnston was appointed to take command at Har- 
per's Ferry, and superseded Jackson there on the 23d May. But 
Jackson was consoled, and the appreciation of his services marked 
by his assignment to the command of the Virginia regiments which 
were now separated and organized into a brigade. This was " the 
Stonewall Brigade," a name it was shortly to earn on the first im- 
portant field of battle, and to carry through the war as an unsur- 
passed title of glory. It consisted of the Second Virginia, Col. 
Allen ; the Fourth Virginia, Col. Preston ; the Fifth Virginia, Col. 



LIEtJT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 185 

Harper, and the Twenty -seventh (Lieut-Col. Echols commanding), 
to which was soon afterwards added the Thirty-third Virginia, Col. 
Cumming. These regiments were composed of the flower and 
pride of Virginia manhood. When Gen. Johnston fell back from 
Harper's Ferry, they were the advanced body of the infantry of 
the Army of the Valley, and continually near the enemy, learning 
steadiness under fire, receiving the impress of their commander's 
strong character and genius, and unconsciously training for the 
important crisis in which they achieved their great and familiar 
name in history. 

It would be uninteresting to recite in detail here those move- 
ments in the Shenandoah Valley, which were only designed as a 
preface to the conflict preparing on the plains of Manassas. It is 
sufficient to say that in the movements which followed Gen. John- 
ston's strategic retreat from Harper's Ferry, and which were de- 
signed to foil Patterson's superiour force, and neutralize it, Jackson 
did marked service. On one occasion, with only a single regiment 
— the Fifth Virginia — a few companies of cavalry, and a light field 
piece, he encountered an entire brigade of the enemy advancing 
from Williamsport, held them in check for several hours at Falling 
"Waters, fell back with consummate skill, and took the first lot of 
prisoners in the war. On his return to Winchester he again had 
evidence that his services were appreciated, and that his energy at 
Harper's Ferry, and his activity in the field, had been noticed at 
Eichmond. The following note awaited him : 

EicmioXD, 3d July, 18G1. 

My dear General : — I have the pleasure of sending you a 
commission of Brigadier-General in the Provisional Army ; and to 
feel that you merit it. May your advancement increase your use- 
fulness to the State. Very truly, 

E. E. Lee. 

On the 18th July, Gen. Johnston having eluded Patterson, was 
hastening his force to join that of Beauregard, now threatened with 
battle on the banks of Bull Eun, near Manassas Junction. Jack- 
son's brigade headed the march. The next day this body of troops 
had reached the Junction, and hungry, weary, and dusty, were 
marched to the pine coppices near one of the fords of Bull Eun. 



186 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

In the line of the great battle of the 21st, Jackson's brigade 
was put in reserve in a position calculated to support Bonham at 
Mitchell's Ford, or to extend aid to Cocke's forces below Stone 
Bridge, where rested the extreme Confederate left. The first 
development of the battle was a heavy flank movement of the 
enemy, who following a narrow road through the " Big Forest," 
had crossed Bull Run, so as to commence the assault in the rear 
of the Confederate left ; the effect of which movement was ulti- 
mately to form a line of battle at right angles to the stream, the 
Confederates facing westward. In this general situation we may 
now understand the important part taken by Jackson's command. 
When Evans, who guarded the Stone Bridge with 800 infantry 
and two six-pound guns, advanced to check the column of the 
enemy descending from Sudley Ford, Jackson was ordered to 
move up to the bridge ; but his quick and trained ear discovered 
from the volume of fire in the direction of Evans' march that here 
was the true point of danger, and he hastened towards it, sending 
forward a messenger to Gen. Bee, who had already reinforced 
Evans, to encourage him with the assurance of support. There 
were yet only five regiments and six guns breasting the Federal 
advance. As Jackson advanced he met the fragments of these 
regiments retiring sullenly from the field, Bee exerting himself 
to retire his shattered little command in something like order to 
the plateau near the Henry House. The bristling battalions of the 
enemy's infantry were hard upon him ; defeat appeared certain 
unless time could be gained to form a new line of battle on 
the plateau ; it was a scene of inexpressible anguish and despair ; 
and as Bee, covered with dust and sweat, reined his foaming steed 
by Jackson's side, he exclaimed, " General, they are beating us 
back." The eye of Jackson glittered, and he replied curtly, " Sir, 
we will give them the bayonet." It was then Bee exclaimed, as 
words of fresh rally to his troops, " There are Jackson and his 
Virginians standing like a stone walU^ But the expression was 
hardly correct; Jackson did not stand long; he paused only until 
he was assured by Bee that the troops would be rallied in the rear; 
and then rapidly advancing, he carried his line of 2,600 bayonets 
near the summit of the next hill. 

His orders were to charge the enemy with the bayonet as soon 
as he should appear over the crest, and within about fifty yards. 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 187 

But the Federal advance bad already wavered ; and it now appear- 
ed to be the enemy's design to use his artillery, and to break the 
advanced lines of the Confederate infantry by a tempest of missiles 
poured upon them and their batteries. Jackson's infantry stood 
the ordeal ; the men lying behind the batteries, while the plunging 
shot and shells of the enemy ploughed frequent gaps through their 
lines. Jackson knew that time was now the important thing, and 
that he was appointed to save the decisive hour, while Beauregard 
re-formed his line of battle and brought up his reserves. He kept 
his devoted line steady at every point ; he rode between the artil- 
lery and the prostrate regiments to encourage his men by his pres- 
ence ; it was noticed that his eye blazed as he traversed the storm 
of death. Meanwhile the precious season was being diligently im- 
proved by Gens. Beauregard and Johnston in bringing up their 
reserves ; and a little past two o'clock in the afternoon the order 
was given for a general advance of the new line of battle that had 
been constructed while Jackson held the enemy at bay. 

Jackson was now opposite the enemy's centre. As he ordered 
his men to advance on the long and glittering lines of the Federal 
infantry he shouted, " Give them the bayonet ; and when you charge, 
yell like furies ! " Delivering but one volley, they dashed upon the 
enemy, who never waited to cross bayonets, but broke in mad 
confusion as the line of levelled steel bore down upon them. Sim- 
ultaneously, the whole Confederate line was advanced and the dis- 
puted plateau was won. But Jackson had performed the most im- 
portant part, for he had cut the enemy's centre and thus separated 
his two wings. His fiery brigade, however, was too eager in pur- 
suit of the fugitive foe ; it had advanced so far that both its flanks 
were turned by Federal forces, and it seemed at one time that it 
would be enveloped by the enemy. It was saved, however, by 
Jachson quickly reposting the artillery in rear ; the contested arena 
was firmly occupied, and on it Gen. Beauregard arranged the 
final charge upon the enemy, which easily put him in full retreat. 

It will be readily seen how critical were Jackson's two parts in 
the battle of Manassas — first in checking the enemy's flank move- 
ment, and secondly in breaking his centre in the decisive charge 
of the day. To a friend in Richmond he proudly wrote : " You 
will find that when my report shall be published, that the First 
brigade was to our army what the Imperial Guard was to the First 



188 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

Napoleon — that, through the blessing of God, it met the thus far 
victorious enemy and turned the fortunes of tlie day." The report 
never saw the light, and was lost in the accidents of the war. That 
of the Commanding General has been frequently criticised as unre- 
liable, and as slighting the claims of the Virginia troops on that 
day. Certainly it made but imperfect mention of Jackson ; the 
newspaper accounts naturally followed the general tenour of the 
official narrative, and reflected its partialities; and so it happened 
that Jackson's brilliant story at Manassas was for a long time un- 
known, and obtained many imperfect versions, and emerged slowly 
to the surface of history. While so many were vaunting their 
exploits in the newspapers, Jackson was comparatively ignored, no 
doubt to his own painful surprise, and much to the impatience of 
his friends, who were aware of his valuable services. To his wife 
he wrote : " You must not be concerned at seeing other parts of 
the army lauded, and my brigade not mentioned. ' Truth is power- 
ful, and will prevail.' You think that the papers ought to say more 
about me. My brigade is not a brigade of newspaper correspon- 
dents. I know that the First brigade was the first to meet and 
pa'ss our retreating forces, to push on with no other aid than the 
smiles of God, to boldly take its position with the artillery that 
was under my command, to arrest the victorious foe in his onward 
progress, to hold him in check until reinforcements arrived, and 
finally to charge bayonets, and, thus advancing, pierce the enemy's 
centre." 

Truth has prevailed, and has since testified, not only that Jack- 
son more than any other brigade commander saved the day at 
Manassas, but that more than the Commanding General he under- 
stood the extent of the success; that he looked at the retreating 
army with eager and excited eyes; that he said: "Give me ten 
thousand men, and I will be in Washington to-night." But the 
inspiration was not caught, and the fruits of Manassas were not 
more than the visible ones of the battle-field. 

Some months after this famous battle, Jackson made another 
limited appearance before the public in command, of an expedition 
towards the head waters of the Potomac, designed to protect the 
Valley of Virginia against Gen. Banks, and to clear the counties 
of Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan, of the Federal troops which 
had so long harassed them. He was advanced to the rank of 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON". 189 

Major-General, and assigned to take command at Winchester of 
various detached bodies of troops ordered to concentrate there, includ- 
ing the commands of Gens. Loring and Henry E. Jackson, which had 
hitherto operated in Western Virginia. Here too he regained his 
old brigade ; and with an army of about ten thousand men, he 
moved in the early days of January, 1862, in the direction of Bath, 
thence to Eomney, effectually reconquering from the enemy the 
country about these places, wrecking the Baltimore and Ohio Eail- 
road, and making some important captures. But the results of 
the expedition were scarcely in proportion to its hardships; they 
were diminished by the recall of Loring from Eomney by the War 
Department at Eichmond, overriding Jackson's authority; most 
of the country reoccupied was again laid open to the enemy ; the 
sum of success was slight, the hardship and distress of the expedi- 
tion memorable, and the addition to Jackson's reputation scarcely 
perceptible. 



190 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Description of the Shenandoah Valley.— Its importance as an avenue to Washing* 
ton. — Gen. Jackson retreats from Winchester, and returns and fights the battle of 
Kernstowu. — His first and last defeat. — Analysis of the enemy's " On-to-Rich- 
mond." — Four armies to converge on the Confederate capital. — Situation of Gen. 
Jackson. — Reinforced by Ewell's division. — His rapid movement to McDowell, 
and its designs. — He falls upon the enemy at Front Royal. — He chases Banks' 
army through Winchester and across the Potomac. — President Lincoln " sets a 
trap " for him. — Gen. McDowell's remonstrance. — Battles of Cross Keys and Port 
Republic. — Summary of the Valley campaign. 

The Yallej of the Shenandoah, of which we have seen Jack- 
son already appointed, in some respect, the guardian, and where 
he was to M-in the most of his fame, is that portion of Virginia 
lying between the Blue Ridge and North Mountains, and extend- 
ing from the head waters of the Shenandoah near Staunton to the 
Potomac. It afforded a natural avenue into the territory of the 
North, and enabled the Confederate forces in Virginia to menace 
the flank of Washington during the entire period of the war. Two 
principal places of entrance from Maryland are Harper's Ferry and 
Willianisport. The Valley is tolerably open until Strasburg is 
reached, where, in the centre, begins a separate chain — the Massa- 
nutten range — which splits the valley for just fifty miles, where, 
near Harrisonburg, it abruptly ends. At the head of the western 
division stands Strasburg : at the head of the eastern. Front Royal. 
The country thus described contained the most beautiful and fruit- 
ful fields of Virginia. The scenery was exquisite and picturesque ; 
there were animated pictures of splendid landscape to be obtained 
from the spurs of the Blue Ridge; tall trees skirted the streams, 
bounding well-garnished fields; mighty forests stretched up the 
sides of the mountains; and the summer blooms burdened the airs 
of a delicious climate with constant perfumes. It was not the pic- 
turesqncness of sterile peaks and frowning rocks. The land was 
quick with growing life ; green-clad fields basked in the sunshine; 
gentle, round-bosomed hills nestled in the arms of the great moun- 



LIEDT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 191 

tain ; the forests opened with vistas of cultivation ; and on the 
tossing plumes of the wheat-fields the light and shade of the daj 
chased each other. The region was not inappropriately called the 
*' Garden of Virginia." 

Here was not only one of the most beautiful and romantic 
theatres of the war, but from a military point of view one of the 
most important districts of the Confederacy. "While it held the 
proper gate to "Washington, its possession by the enemy would 
turn upon the Confederates almost equal danger and involve the 
security of Eichmond. A short march through the Blue Ridge, 
at Snicker's, Ashby's, or Manassas' Gaps, would enable the enemy 
to take Manassas Junction in flank and reverse, and assail the Con- 
federate force there at an enormous advantage. We have already 
seen that to guard against this danger, Gen. Jackson had been sent 
to the lower part of the Valley. The key of the region was "Win- 
chester. This ancient town was less than thirty miles from the 
Potomac ; and turnpike roads converged towards it from Romney, 
Martinsburg, Sheppardstown, Charlestown, and Berryville. Over 
these roads, the Federal forces, reported to be near Romney and 
Williamsport, could easily advance with their trains and artillery ; 
and it was therefore important that they should be closely watched 
in a movement which might affect the whole military situation in 
Virginia. 

"When Gen. Johnston retreated from Centreville, and com- 
menced his masterly movement to unite his army with that under 
Gen. Mngruder on the Peninsula, for the defence of Richmond, it 
became critically important that Jock son — who was still at Win- 
chester, and who constituted, as it were, the left of Johnston's 
army — should check or amuse the enemy in this direction. But 
Jackson's army had been diminished now to about 4,000 men. In 
front of him at Charlestown was Gen. Banks, with about 35,000 
men; it being understood that the design of this commander was 
to occupy Winchester, and after defeating or crippling Jackson, to 
move the bulk of his forces rapidly to Manassas, and take part in 
McClellan's new combination against Richmond. On the 12th 
March, 1862, Banks occupied Winchester, and Shields' division 
was advanced as far up the Valley as Strasburg. Jackson con- 
tinued to retreat until he arrived at the little town of Mount Jack- 
son, nearly opposite Luray, and about forty-five miles fiom Win- 



192 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

Chester. Shields, having desisted from pursuit, returned to Win- 
chester, and occupied it with three brigades ; while the other forces 
of Banks commenced their march to Manassas, well assured that 
no serious trouble was to be apprehended from Jackson, and that 
they might now take their part against Johnston, who lingered on 
the banks of the Rappahannock. 

At once apprehending the necessity of a rapid diversion, Jack- 
son hurried forward by forced marches to Winchester. In the after- 
noon of the 23d March, he came up with the enemy's rear at the 
little village of Kernstown, about three miles from Winchester, on 
the road to Strasburg, and one of the most unequal and brilliant 
battles of the war ensued. For once Jackson had not a correct 
idea of the force he engaged ; he had been informed that the 
enemy had only four regiments in Winchester, and he ultimately 
found himself engaging a force triple his numbers. But he strug- 
gled for the field desperately and furiously. According to his 
of&cial report his infantry engaged was 2,742 men ; and he esti- 
mated the force of the enemy present at 11,000, of whom "over 
8,000," he declares, were probably engaged. But even against 
these odds it appeared at one time that he would win the field. 
The fury of the battle did not relent as the sun sunk beneath the 
horizon. Jackson watched the contest with an eager and animated 
eye, shouting, again and again : " One more volley, my brave 
boys ! " as charge after charge of the enemy's infantry was re- 
pulsed, and it was evident that the vigour of their attack must 
soon be spent. But while Jackson, on his high sorrel charger, 
towered above the smoke, watching for the conclusion of the day, 
he suddenly noticed his old brigade retiring, under the command 
of Gen. Garnett. He galloped towards them, stern and menacing. 
" Beat the rally," he shouted, seizing a fugitive drummer, and 
holding him by the shoulder in a storm of balls. But it was too 
late ; the enemy had penetrated the opening, the day was lost ; 
and Jackson, without giving any order to retreat, moved sullenly 
among his troops, who had done everything that human courage 
and endurance could accomplish, and even at the last fell back 
without panic and surrendered a field covered with nearly one-fifth 
of their numbers killed and wounded. 

Kernstown was not a Confederate victory. It was Jackson's 
first and last defeat. It had been fought on imperfect information, 



LIEUT. -GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 193 

and was yet not a blunder ; for, no matter what was the enemy's 
superiority of force, it was an essential part of Jackson's calcula- 
tion and design, to attack, with the view of taking the attention of 
Banks, and disconcerting the enemy's programme on the other side 
of the Blue Eidge. In this sense the battle of Kernstown was a 
success, accomplished the most important part of Jackson's de- 
sign, and even exceeded his expectations. Banks, at once alarmed, 
hastened back to Winchester, and ordered the troops on the march 
to Manassas to retrace their steps. It was at once believed at 
Washington that the Confederates were still in considerable force 
in the Shenandoah Valley. It was decided to detain Gen. Banks 
there with an augmented command ; and the consequence was, 
that the plans of McClellan had to be subjected to fresh changes 
and more delays. 

When at last a definite programme did emerge from the con- 
fusion and conflict of views at Washington, it was formidable 
enough to Richmond, and, on paper, was readily decisive of the 
fate of that city. Upon the Confederate capital four armies were 
to converge: that of Fremont from the northwest, that of Banks 
from the Valley, that of McDowell from Fredericksburg, and that 
of McClellan from the Peninsula, between the James and York. 
Towards the middle of April, the three first-mentioned armies 
occupied respectively the following positions: Gen. Fremont was 
at Franklin, a small town in the mountains of Western Virginia, 
near the source of the south branch of thePotomac, with a force of 
at least three divisions, including that of Blenker, which had been 
withdrawn from the Army of the Potomac ; Gen. Banks, having 
advanced along the north fork of the Shenandoah River, had 
placed his headquarters at Newmarket, beyond the terminus of 
the rail which intersects the Shenandoah Valley ; while Gen. 
McDowell, with about 30,000 men, occupied Fredericksburg on 
the Rappahannock. The line of operations against Richmond thus 
extended from the shores of the James to the base of the Blue 
Ridge ; for it was designed that the forces in the Valley, driving 
Jackson out, should cut the Confederate communication, sweep 
down upon the capital from the mountains, while McDowell was 
to advance from Fredericksburg and extend his left wing until it 
formed a junction with McClellan's right, on the lines about 
Richmond. 

13 



194 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON". 

Where was Jackson in this fearful situation ? After the battle 
of Kernstown, he had retreated up the Valley by way of Harrison- 
burg, and turning to the Blue Kidge, took up a position between 
the south fork of the Shenandoah and Swift Run Gap. Here he 
was retained by Johnston, after the main body of the Confederate 
army had been di'awn in towards Richmond. On the 30th April, 
he was joined by Ewell's division from Gordonsville, and with the 
combined force was now prepared to take the desperate field, 
hoping to strike in detail the divided forces of the enemy. 

His first care was to evade Gen. Banks. That dull commander 
had already advanced a considerable distance up the Shenandoah 
Valley, felicitating himself with the idea that he was driving Jack- 
son before him, and delighting the authorities at Washington with 
the report that the Confederates were about to relinquish the Valley ; 
while Milro}^, commanding the advanced guard of Fremont's army, 
had reached Buffalo Gap in the chain of mountains on the western 
side of the Valley, en route for the proposed junction that was to 
threaten Richmond from the west. Jackson was indeed between 
two armies — that of Fremont and Banks ; but seizing the opportu- 
nity to strike in detail, he left Ewell on Banks' front, hurried for- 
ward to the support of Gen. Edward Johnson, who was endeavour- 
ing to hinder Fremont's advance, struck the enemy at McDowell, 
driving back the brigades of Milroy and Schenck to Franklin, and 
then swiftly brought his forces over the mountams to tlie attack of 
Banks, who having taken some alarm, had fallen back to Strasburg. 

Instead of marching direct on Strasburg. Jackson diverged on 
a line to the eastward by way of Luray Valley, and moved on 
Front Royal, with the view of cutting off Banks' retreat from 
Strasburg, interposing between him and reinforcements, and com- 
pelling his surrender. On the 23d May, he entered Front Royal, 
capturing the garrison of seven hundred men there, under Col. 
Kenly ; and thence he moved to Middletown by a road to the right 
of the main Valley road, hoping there to cut off Banks.* Here, 

* There was published in a Northern newspaper the following account of the 
surprise of Banks at Jackson's sudden apparition at Front Royal, in which a private 
eoldier claims to have first alarmed the commander in time to save the biilk of his 
army: " Our compauy and company B [Fifth New York Cavalry] were ordered to 
Frout Royal, in the mountains, twelve miles from Strasburg, last Fridaj'^, and when 
•,we got within two miles of our destination we heard cannonading. The Major or- 



LIEUT.- GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 195 

however, he pierced the enemy's column of retreat, drove a part 
of his rear towards Strasburg, and then pressed on in hot pursuit 
to Winchester. The enemy continued his frantic retreat through 
the streets of the city. As his fugitive masses made their exit on 
the north side of the town, the Confederates entered it. All the 
streets were in commotion ; cavalry were rushing in disorder, and 
infantry, frightened by the rapidity of their mounted companions, 
were in consternation. Guns, knapsacks, cartridge-boxes, bayonets, 
and bayonet-cases, lay scattered upon the ground in great profu- 
sion, thrown away by the panic-stricken soldiers. 

On the heights north of the town, Banks made a momentary 
stand, but was soon in full retreat again. In the night of 25th May 
he reached the Potomac, having accomplished a march of fifty-three 
miles in forty-eight hours. He had made an extraordinary race, 
and one of the most ludicrous flights of the war. His army was in 
miserable plight, but excessively thankful. No sooner had his panic- 
stricken troops taken breath than he wrote to Washington : " There 
never were more grateful hearts in the same number of men, than 

dered the baggage to stop, and our two companies dashed on, and found several 
companies of our infantry and two pieces of artillery engaged with several thousand 
of the enemy. Just as we arrived on the field, Col. Parem, who had command of 
our forces, rode up to me and ordered me to take one man and the two fastest horses 
in our company, and ride for dear life to Gen. Banks' headquarters in Strasburg, for 
reinforcements. The direct road to Strasburg was occupied by the enemy, so I was 
obliged to ride round by another, seventeen miles. I rode the seventeen miles in 
fifty-five minutes. Gen. Banks didn't seem to think it very serious, but ordered one 
regiment of infantry and two pieces of artillery off. I asked Gen. Banks for a fresh 
horse to rejoin my company, and he gave me the best horse that I ever rode, and I 
started back. I came out on the Front Royal turnpike, about two miles this side of 
where I left our men. Saw two men standing in the road, and their horses standing 
by the fence. I supposed they were our pickets. They didn't halt me, so I asked 
them if they were pickets ? They said no. Says I : ' Who are you ? ' ' We are 
part of Gen. Jackson's staff.' I supposed that they were only joking. I laughed, and 
asked them where Jackson was. They said he was in the advance. I left them and 
rode to Front Royal, till I overtook a soldier, and asked him what regiment he bo- 
longed to. He said he belonged to the Eighth Louisiana. I asked how large a force 
they had, and the reply was ' twenty thousand.' 1 turned back and drew my re- 
volver, expecting either a desperate fight or a Southern jail ; but the ofiBcers in the road 
didn't stop me, and I was lucky enough not to meet any of their pickets. But if it 
was not a narrow escape, then I don't know what is. When I got out of theenemy'a 
lines I rode as fast as the horse could carry me to Gen. Banks, and reported what I 
had seen and heard. He said I had saved the army. In less than an hour the whole 
army was in motion towards Winchester." 



196 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

when at mid-day on the 26th we stood on the opposite shore of the 
Potomac." 

Jackson had shown nerve, energy, rapidity of movement, and 
had accomplished a success far beyond the limit of his captures. 
His apparition in Winchester was the occasion of unbounded con- 
sternation at Washington. The news of Banks' defeat fell like a 
thunderbolt on the Federal war council; the most exaggerated 
rumours of the numbers and designs of Jackson were circulated 
through the North ; Washington was declared to be in danger; the 
"secessionists" of Baltimore appeared about to rise; and sharing 
the general alarm. President Lincoln at once countermanded the 
order for McDoweirs advance from Fredericksburg, to unite with 
McClellan, and directed him to put twenty thousand men in motion 
for the Valley, and "set a trap" for the man who knew every gap 
and gorge of the country. 

Gen. McDowell, who was not without sagacity, addressed to the 
authorities at Washington a strong letter of remonstrance on the 
policy of transferring so large a portion of his force from Fredericks- 
burg to the Shenandoah. His out pickets had already effected a 
junction with those of Gen. McClellan; and he fully appreciated 
the importance of a conjoined movement upon Richmond. But 
Jackson had already created the panic that was to break up the 
designs against the Confederate capital, and destroy a critical part 
of the combination ; and the only answer that McDowell received 
to his remonstrance, was a repeated order to march to the Shen- 
andoah. Shields' division was accordingly sent towards Stras- 
burg, where it was expected a converging movement of Fremont 
might entrap Jackson, who was now on his retreat from Win- 
chester. 

On the 1st June Fremont entered Strasburg, a few hours before 
the main body of Shields' division. But again had Gen. Jackson 
escaped his pursuers; he had passed through the town unmolested, 
in a night of rain, thunder, and lightning. His long train conveyed 
the plunder and spoils of Banks' army, and about 2,000 prisoners; 
his rear was protected by Ashby's cavalry, and he marched rapidly 
onward. Fremont now engaged in the pursuit by moving up the 
valley of the north fork of the Shenandoah River, while Shields 
marched in an almost parallel line up its southern branch, and was 
preparing to cut off the retreat through the passes of the Blue Ridge 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 197 

Mountains. Jackson's position was most perilous. The only point 
to cross the branches of the Shenandoah, was a bridge at Port Re- 
public ; Shields might prevent his crossing, or effect a junction 
with Fremont; and both these results were to be prevented. 
Jackson rapidly threw forward his own division to cover the bridge, 
and left Ewell's division five^miles back on the road, to take care 
of Fremont. It was a desperate venture, for Ewell fought with his 
back to a river, and against superiour numbers. But Jackson had 
not miscalculated the man whom he trusted of all others. Ewell 
repulsed Fremont ; and by the bold battle of Cross Keys, Jackson 
was able to effect the object he had in view of falling with his 
whole force on Shields. In the night of the 8th June, he brought 
the greater portion of Ewell's division across the North River by 
the bridge at Port Republic, leaving only a small force on the left 
bank to deceive Fremont, and to burn the bridge. The plan was 
successful, and Fremont arrived at the bank of the river only in 
time to see the bridge in flames, and to hear the guns which were 
playing on his colleague. 

Shields had obtained a very strong position. His left rested 
on wooded hills, and on a small knoll near the woods was posted 
the greater portion of his artillery. The Confederate batteries were 
no match for those of the enemy. Jackson found his lines of infan- 
try soon disordered and broken. At one time the enemy gained 
ground, and it was only by a determined attack of Ewell with 
some Virginia regiments on the flank of the enemy's advancing 
line, that the battle was restored. Jackson's unerring eye now 
saw at once the key of the whole position. He instantly 
determined that unless the enemy's artillery, so advantageously 
posted, was captured or silenced, it would continue to sweep the 
entire ground in front, and render an attack upon the Federal cen- 
tre or right wing impossible. He sat on his horse, looking at the 
guns belching forth their showers of iron hail, and turning to Gen. 
Taylor, commanding the Louisiana brigade, said briefly, " Can 
you take that battery? It must be taken." The Louisianians re- 
sponded with a shout, advanced through an incessant storm of 
grape, canister and shell, gained the crest, and by a sudden charge 
captured the greater portion of the artillery. The enemj^'s line 
was broken, some regiments retreated in fair order, others were 
completely routed, and in detached bodies took to the hills and 



198 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

sought refuge among the woods. The Confederate cavalry pur- 
sued, and the defeat was complete. 

Jackson had won the most doubtful day of his campaign, and 
was safe. He had obtained a crowning victory in the last con- 
juncture of danger; he had turned upon his pursuers, and defeat- 
ed them right and left; and when Fremont, who had helplessly 
watched the battle across the river, commenced his languid retreat 
down the Valley, Jackson withdrew leisurely to the gaps of the 
Blue Ridge, whence he had easy access to the most practicable 
routes and direct line of rail to Eichmond. 

A summary of Gen. Jackson's campaign in the Yalley is un- 
doubtedly the most brilliant page in the history of the war. We 
have seen how he checked the advance of Milroy from the west ; 
how he then advanced upon Banks, and drove him precipitately 
across the Potomac ; how he outmarched the columns of Fremont 
and Shields which pursued him, brought off all his captured stores 
and prisoners, and finally, by a strategy as successful as it was 
daring, turned upon two important forces of the enemy, defeated 
them in detail, and concluded the campaign in a blaze of victory. 
With a little army of 15,000 men, at one time a hundred miles 
from its base, and with about 40,000 enemies on his front and 
flanks, he had accomplished a chapter of wonders, and conducted 
a campaign of unbroken brilliancy. He had defeated four separ- 
ate armies ; he had overcome his old adversary Banks, in a way to 
cover him with ridicule, delighting the South with the caricature 
of a commander who was especially odious to them ;* he had cap- 
tured a total of 3,600 prisoners ; he had marched four hundred 
miles within forty days, in constant combats and skirmishes; and 
defeating at last two armies, whose aggregate was double his own, 
he was left master of the situation, with his victorious hands full 
of trophies. Finally, and above all, he had succeeded in neutral- 
izing a force of at least 00,000 men designed to operate against 
Eichmond, and to this extent had contributed to the safety of the 
capital of the Confederacy. 

* The Charleston Mercury printed the following epigram : 

" Whilst Butler plays his silly pranks, 
And closes up New-Orleans banks, 
Our StonewaU Jackson, with more cunning, 
Keeps Yankee Banks forever running." 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 199 



CHAPTER XYII. 

Gen. Jackson's share in the " seven days' battles " around Eichmond. — Shifting of the 
scenes of war from the James River to the Rappahannock. — Battle of Cedar Run. 
— Gen. Jackson moves a column between the enemy's rear and Washington. — 
Scenes of the march. — Battle of Groveton. — The two days' conflict on Manassas 
Plains. — Gen. Jackson strikes the enemy at Ox Hill. — Results of the campaign so 
far. — Extraordinary achievement of Jackson's command. — He moves against, and 
captures Harper's Ferry. — His part in the battle of Sharpsburg. 

General Jackson was yet to do more for the safety of Rich- 
mond, and to crown what he had done in strategy by a direct 
attack on the lines of the Chickahominy. Gen. Lee had taken 
pains to mask his withdrawal from the Yalley by sending him the 
divisions of Whiting and Lawton, as if to reinforce him to prose- 
cute the campaign to Winchester, where Fremont had withdrawn ; 
but his orders in fact were to move towards Richmond, and fall 
upon McCIellan's right, while Lee's other divisions moved directly 
upon Mechanicsville. On the 25th June, Jackson reached the 
vicinity of Ashland, about twelve miles from Richmond. At sun- 
rise next morning his forces were in motion, advancing abreast of 
the enemy's right flank at Mechanicsville ; and as he crossed the 
Tottopotomy Creek, his cannon announced to A. P. Hill, who 
awaited the signal at Mechanicsville, that the time for action had 
arrived. 

At night Jackson bivouacked within sound of the furious can- 
nonade, with which Hill and Longstreet sought to dislodge the 
enemy at Beaver Dam, turned the position in the morning, and 
now joined by D. H. Hill, took up his line of marcb to a point 
a few miles north of Cold Harbour. Passing Cold Harbour, he 
perceived the enemy a little to the southward, drawn up in battle 
array ; Hill and Longstreet were already engaged ; and Jackson, 
hoping that if the enemy retreated, he would expose his flank to 
him, halted his troops in a margin of woods. It soon became 
apparent, however, that the Confederates were hard pressed, and 
that upon Jackson's three divisions might depend the fortune of 



200 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

desperate attack. Gen. Lee, ascertaining the approach ot Jackson, 
hastened to give him the necessary orders. Exclianging a hurried 
greeting, the Commanding General paused a moment, and listened 
anxiously to the roar of artillery in the woods. "The fire is very 
heavy," he said : " do you think your men can stand it?" " Sir," 
said Jackson, "they can stand almost anything;" and then turn- 
ing his head to one side to listen, " they can stand thatr In a 
moment his columns were in motion, advancing with tumultuous 
cheers, which were caught up and ran along the shattered lines of 
Hill, proclaiming the long-expected relief. Whiting's division 
was hurried forward to assist Longstreet in his assault upon the 
Federal left, and formed on the left of his line, joining the right of 
Gen. A. P. Hill. On the left of Hill, and opposite the enemy's 
centre, was a part of Jackson's old division, the remainder being 
sent to the right; on the left of that, Ewell's; and on the extreme 
left, D. H. Hill's division. 

The latter first came in contact with the enemy's line, rushing 
through the swamp, underwood, and felled trees. It was unable to 
rout the enemy, but obtained some ground and stubbornly held it. 
Ewell moved next, and engaged the enemy in the forest. Mean- 
while "Whiting attacked the enemy's left, having the most difficult 
part of the field, and achieved the critical triumph. He emerged 
into the field at the head of a deep ravine, which covered the 
Federal left; he advanced through a number of retreating and 
disordered regiments ; for a quarter of a mile the enemy, protected 
by breastworks, poured into the advancing line a destructive and 
terrible fire; but yet the devoted column, led by " Hood's brave 
Texans," pressed on with unfaltering step. In this splendid charge 
upwards of a thousand men fell killed and wounded. Its way was 
strewn with carnage. Leaping ditch and stream, clambering up 
a difficult assent, through showers of cannon and musketry, amid 
smoke and smell of blood, these heroic troops pierced the Federal 
stronghold, took fourteen pieces of artiller}'-, and placed the battle- 
flag of the Confederates on the first, then on the second tier of the 
enemy's defences. "It was," wrote Jackson — who seldom used an 
animated phrase in an ofiicial report — "a rapid and ahnost match- 
less display of desperate and daring valour." "The shouts of 
triumph which rose from our brave men, as they, unaided by 
artillery, had stormed this citadel of the enemy's strength, were 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 201 

promptly carried from line to line; and the triumphant issue of 
this assault, with the well-directed fire of the batteries, and success- 
ful charges of Hill and Winder upon the enemy's right, determined 
the fortunes of the day. The Federals, routed at every point, 
and aided by the darkness of the night, escaped across the Chicka- 
hominy." 

Beyond this glorious part in the decisive field called Gaines' 
Mills, Jackson had but little share in the " seven days' battles." 
He was obstructed in "White Oak Swamp, in pursuit of the enemy, 
important bridges having been destroyed ; and at Malvern Hill, 
D. H. Hill's division, which was temporarily with Jackson, began 
the action prematurely, and was compelled to fall back before 
Ewell's troops could reinforce him. 

The campaign of the Peninsula ended here. In a few weeks 
it was perceived that the scene of action was rapidly changing from 
the James to the Rappahannock. It became necessary to maintain 
the Confederate position at Gordonsville, and to guard that point, 
Jackson was detached in the latter part of July, with a force con- 
sisting of his "old division," Ewell's, and afterwards that of A. P. 
Hill. Ascertaining to his satisfaction that Pope, who commanded 
the Federal forces in Northern Virginia, was waiting at Culpeper 
Court-House to be reinforced by Burnside, he resolved to attack 
before that event should occur. On the 8th August he crossed 
the Eapidan, and took up a position in the wooded and hilly 
country in the vicinity of the main road from Gordonsville to Cul- 
peper. His force consisted of about 15,000 men, and on his front 
was the corpsof his old Valley acquaintance. Banks, with a division 
of McDowell. This force had been thrown forward by Pope, to 
take a strong position near Cedar or Slaughter's Mountain, the 
wooded slopes of which Jackson had already occupied. In the 
afternoon of the 9th August, Banks advanced his divisions, and 
the battle of Cedar Run was fought. The result was that the 
Federal line was driven back about a mile, and Pope himself 
acknowledged a loss of 1,800 killed, wounded, and prisoners, and 
stated that fully 1,000 more straggled back to Culpeper Court- 
House and beyond, and never entirely returned to their commands. 

In the battle of Cedar Run, Jackson had only intended to check 
the enemy's advanced divisions, and to save Gordonsville ; and he 
now proposed to defer operations until the arrival of the main army 



202 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

from Richmond, set free by the withdrawal of McClellan from 
Harrison's Landing. He did not have long to wait. Gen. Lee was 
soon up with him, made various demonstrations at the fords of 
the Eapidan to attract Pope's attention, and while thus amusing 
the enemy, designed an attack on his left flank and rear, so as to 
cut off his retreat to the Rappahannock by the line of the railroad. 
With this end in view, Longstreet moved by way of Raccoon Ford, 
and Jackson by way of Somerville Ford, on the Rapidan. 

Pope declined the battle with Lee's forces massed on his flank, 
and fell back promptly to the north bank of the Rappahannock. 
It was now determined by the Confederate commander to send a 
column against the enemy's rear, to get between him and Washing- 
ton, cut his communications, and in conjunction with the rest of 
the army which would follow, engage his whole force, and capture 
or destroy it before it could retreat to the Potomac. This despe- 
rate movement was intrusted to Jackson. On the 25th, he left 
the main army, and proceeded rapidly towards the head waters of 
the Rappahannock. It was a sore and painful march, up the steeps, 
along and across the valleys skirting the Blue Ridge Mountains ; 
the artillery was dragged with difficulty up the narrow and rock- 
ribbed roads ; many of the men were barefooted, many faint from 
want of food. But Jackson was on his favourite adventure — a 
flank movement — and inspiriting his men, pushed forward to Thor- 
oughfare Grap, hoping to reach it before the enemy could be made 
aware of his intention. Passing Salem through "crowds all wel- 
coming, cheering, staring with blank amazement," he pressed on 
through the plains to the well-known mountain gorge. It was un- 
defended. He passed rapidly between the frowning ramparts with 
his little army, hungry, exhausted, but resolute as ever. The open 
country was now before him, and he descended, like a hawk, upon 
Manassas. 

Here a small force of the enemy was routed, and a rich spoil 
obtained. Eight pieces of artillery, ten locomotives, and two 
trains of enormous size, loaded with many millions' worth of stores, 
fell into Jackson's hands. The rich and varied contents of the 
sutlers' stores were turned over to the men, who had been living 
mostly on roasted corn since they had crossed the Rappahannock. 
"To see," said an eye-witness, "a starving man eating lobster-salad, 
and drinking Rhine wine, barefooted and in tatters, was curious ; 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 203 

the whole thing was incredible." But thej did not tarry long at 
their strange feast. Destroying what he could not appropriate, 
Jackson, at nightfall of the 27th August, turned his back on the 
burning houses of Manassas ; for Pope was now moving to attack 
him, and the head of the Federal column had already come in 
collision with Ewell. 

With his command reduced by the hardships of the march to 
scarcely more than twenty thousand jaded men, far from his sup- 
ports, with Pope's whole force faced upon him and threatening 
annihilation, it was now the difficult task of Jackson to ward off 
the threatened blow, and yet hold the enemy in check until Lee 
and Longstreet arrived. These latter forces, marching the same 
route which Jackson had pursued, had to follow the arc of a circle, 
over the chord of which Pope moved ; and the Federal commander 
had already announced, in the slang of the braggart, that he would 
" bag " Jackson. But arrived at Manassas Junction, the enemy 
found that Jackson had given him the slip, and moving across to 
the Warrenton turnpike, had gained the high timber-land north 
and west of Groveton, and taken a position to form a junction 
with Longstreet as soon as he arrived. As one of the Federal 
columns advanced parallel with the Warrenton turnpike, it unwit- 
tingly presented a flank to Jackson. The temptation to assail it 
was irresistible. Jackson said briefly, " Ewell, advance ! " and, 
bringing up his old division, furiously attacked the enemy. It was 
a fierce and sanguinary conflict ; the enemy did not give way, but 
at night his forces — those of McDowell — were withdrawn to 
Manassas, and Jackson held precisely the position to put himself 
in the way of a junction with the main body of Lee's army, and 
which it should have been Pope's supreme object to have antici- 
pated. 

The next morning, 29th August, Jackson, now confident of his 
ability to hold his ground until reinforcements arrived, presented 
a dauntless front, ready to accept battle at any moment. A cloud 
of dust in the direction of Thoroughfare Gap told the tale of suc- 
cour and good hope ; and Longstreet's divisions were soon formed 
across the Warrenton road, his left resting upon a range not far 
from Jackson's right. The enemy appeared to adhere to his design 
of overwhelming Jackson before succour reached him ; and as 
Longstreet was coming into position, a heavy column attacked 



20J: LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

Jackson's left with great fury. Six separate and distinct assaults 
were met and repulsed. For hours the conflict continued obstinate 
and determined ; until a demonstration made on the enemy's left 
by the brigades of Hood and Evans relieved Jackson from the 
heavy pressure of the enemy's columns, gained some ground, but 
left the day undecided. 

In the greater battle of the next day, Jackson appeared destined 
again to bear the brunt of the enemy's attack. Most of the day 
was consumed by the enemy in manoeuvi'ing ; but about four 
o'clock, a dense column of infantry, massed in a strip of woods 
near Groveton, advanced against the Confederate centre, where 
Jackson's right and Longstreet's left joined, and where eight bat- 
teries had been concentrated. As the fire of these was directed 
upon the enemy's triple lines of infantry, it seemed to rake and 
tear them to pieces. They were swept away like leaves in the 
wind. But again the obstinate masses came charging as before; 
again the iron storm crashed through the ranks ; and again they 
broke and retired. A third force, heavier than before, now 
advanced with mad impetuosity, and, in the midst of the rapid 
fire of the batteries, threw themselves upon Jackson, and engaged 
him in a last and terrible struggle for the field. 

The desperate onset was sustained by Jackson. As he strug- 
gled. Col. Lee moved the batteries referred to a little to the left, 
and at four hundred yards from the Federal lines poured into them 
a fire that ploughed broad gaps through them. Through the rifts 
of smoke could be seen soldiers falling and flying; and then pierc- 
ing yells told that Jackson was advancing with his terrible weapon, 
the bayonet. Just at this moment Longstreet seized the opportu- 
nity presented to him, and attacked the exposed left flank of the 
enemy. The whole Confederate line was now advancing ; it was 
charge ! charge ! through the woods, over the hills, over the dead 
and dying. Jackson's troops came on like " demons emerged from 
the earth." The whole field was swept with the bayonet; the 
grand advance never paused ; and the Federal army, breaking and 
disappearing in the rapidly gathering darkness, now thought of 
nothing but its safety beyond the sheltering heights of Centreville. 

The next day Jackson's corps was again in motion : it had not 
yet completed its work. At Centreville, Pope united with the 
corps of Franklin and Sumner, and Jackson was at once sent on 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON". 205 

a detour to his right to intercept, if possible, his retreat to Wash- 
ington. Pope, meantime, fell back to positions covering Fairfax 
Court-House and Gerraantown ; and on the evening of the 1st 
September, Jackson struck his right, posted at Ox Hill, near Ger- 
mantown. On the Confederate side the action was fought with 
Hill's and Ewell's divisions, in the midst of a cold and drenching 
rain. The conflict was maintained until dark, when the enemy 
retreated, having lost two general officers — Eeno and Kearney — • 
and the next day had drawn back within the lines of Washington. 

This engagement closed the campaign against Pope. It will be 
observed that throughout it Jackson was given the most prominent 
place. The campaign was commenced by him alone; he had won 
a victory at Cedar Run ; he had, by a swift and silent march, 
reached Thoroughfare Gap before the enemy suspected his advance ; 
passed through the narrow gorge without resistance ; repulsed the 
advances of Pope at Bristoe Station ; captured and destroyed the 
large stores at Manassas; cut to pieces the force sent to relieve the 
garrison ; retired with deliberation to the old battle-field of Ma- 
nassas ; repulsed the attack of the Federal army ; held his position 
until Longstreet arrived; and then falling upon the enemy, had 
borne the brunt of the encounter during battles of incredible fury, 
joined in the final and decisive charge, and pursued him to the 
foreground of Washington. The total loss of the Confederate army 
in this series of battles was about 7,500, of whom 1,100 were killed 
upon the field. Of this loss, nearly 5,000 fell upon the corps of 
Jackson ; out of which number 805 officers and men \^ere killed. 
The prisoners lost by him, in the whole of the long struggle, 
amounted to only thirty-five. 

But the wonderful campaign of the Confederates was not to 
end on the historic plains of Manassas, so deeply crimsoned with 
Southern blood ; and while Pope retreated towards Alexandria, 
Lee had determined on the invasion of Maryland, and was making 
for the fords of the Potomac. Between the 4th and 7th Septem- 
ber, the whole Confederate army crossed the Potomac, and encamp- 
ed in the vicinity of Frederick. It was ascertained that at Harper's 
Ferry a force of about 12,000 of the enemy remained directly in 
Lee's rear ; and it became necessary to dislodge that force before 
concentrating the Confederate army west of the mountains. To 
this duty Jackson, with his own three divisions, the two divisions 



206 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

of McLaws, and the division of "Walker, was assigned. The ad- 
vance was begun on the 10th. In the morning of the 14th, the 
investment of Harper's Ferry was complete; McLaws having 
occupied Maryland Heights, and Jackson and Walker investing 
the town by the rear, the latter occupying Loudoun Heights. 
During the day, the heights were crowned with artillery ; and at 
dawn of the 15th Jackson opened his artillery. In two hours a 
white flag was raised in token of surrender. Jackson received the 
capitulation of 12,000 men, and came into possession of seventy- 
three pieces of artillery, 13,000 small-arms, and a large quantity of 
military stores.* He tarried but a little while with his prize ; and 
leaving A. P. Hill at Harper's Ferry, he headed towards Maryland 
to unite with Lee, and by a severe night-march reached Sharpsburg 
in the morning of the 16th September, 

In the battle of Sharpsburg, Jackson held the Confederate left. 
He had with him only Ewell's and his own division, the greater 
portion of his command being yet en route from Harper's Ferry. 
Against his thin line the heaviest fire of the enemy's artillery was 
directed in the early part of the day ; and with such effect that 
Jackson himself gave the order to retire. Hood's two brigades 
were moved to his support ; and of what ensued a Northern cor- 
respondent writes: "The rebels, greatly reinforced, made a sudden 

* A correspondent of the New York Evening Post, who had an opportunity of see- 
mg Jackson during the brief hours he was at Harper's Ferry, thus records his im- 
pressions of the Himous Confederate : 

" While the ofBcers were dashing down the road, and the half-naked privates 
begging at every door, Gen. Jackson was sunning himself, and talking with a group 
of soldiers at the pump across the street — a plain man, in plain clothes, with an iron 
face and iron-gray hair. Only by his bearing could he be distinguished from liis men. 
He stood as if the commonest of all, marked only bj' the mysterious insignia of in- 
dividual presence by which we know, intuitively, the geuifls from the clown. No 
golden token of rank gleamed on his rusty clothes ; of the shining symbols of which, 
alas, too many of our oflBcers are so ridiculously fond that they seem unconscious 
how disgraceful is this glitter of vanity ! They were nowhere visible on old Stone- 
wall's person. When Gen. Jacksou had drank at the pump, and talked at his leisure, 
he mounted his flame-colored horse and rode down the street at the jog of a com- 
fortable farmer carrying a bag of meal. 

"As he passed, I could but wonder how many times he had prayed on Saturday 
night before commeucing his hellish Sabbath work. His old servant says that 'When 
massa prays four times in de night, he knows the devil '11 be to pay de next day.' 
And I am very sure that there were a large number of devils at work above Har- 
per's Ferry on Sundrty, September 14, 1862." 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 207 

and impetuous onset, and drove our gallant fellows back over a 
portion of the hard-won field. What we had won, however, was 
not relinquished without a desperate struggle, and here, up the hills 
and down, through the woods and the standing corn, over the 
ploughed land and the clover, the line of fire swept to and fro as 
one side or the other gained a temporary advantage." As the day 
advanced the troops of McLaws and Walker reached the field, and 
Jackson was enabled to defeat the persistent attempt of the enemy 
to turn his left. The design of the Federal commander was to 
force Lee back upon the river, and to cut him to pieces before he 
could cross. His main assault was against the Confederate left, and 
bis failure there destroyed his best expectations of the day. Jack- 
son held his ground firmly ; on other parts of the field the battle 
spent itself in indecisive results ; and the day closed with the two 
armies holding the same positions which they occupied when it 
began, save that in the centre the Confederate line was retracted 
about two hundred yards. 

Sharpsburg, although not a Federal victory, purchased a respite 
in the storms of war. Gen. Lee having determined to recruit his 
army, withdrew to the soil of Virginia ; and Jackson's corps 
passed the beautiful autumn months in the bosom of the most 
charming regions of the lower Valley of the Shenandoah. It was 
not until these precious months of rest had glided past, and the 
blasts of winter carried away the gorgeous foliage and the brilliant 
sunshine, that the Federal authorities were prepared for another 
advance into Virginia, and the veteran corps of Jackson sum- 
moned to other bloody scenes of conflict. 



208 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Battle of Predericlisburg. — Gen. Jackson conceives the desperate enterprise of driv- 
ing the enemy into the river.— But he recalls the attack.— Battle of Chancellors- 
ville. — A night council under the pines. — The flank-march.— How Gen. Hooker 
was deceived. — Gen. Jackson's last dispatch.— Fury of his attack in the Wilder- 
ness. — He is shot from his horse by his own men. — Particulars of his wound and 
sufferings. — His dying moments. — Funeral ceremonies in Eichmond. 

When the Federal host, now put under the command of the 
feeble but gallant Burnside, essayed its fourth " On-to-Richmond," 
it was determined to try the line of the Rappahannock ; and in 
the battle of Fredericksburg, fought the 13th December, Jackson's 
command had an active share. In the Confederate line of battle 
Jackson held the right, occupying about half of the range of hills, 
which swept around to Hamilton's Crossing on the railroad, in- 
closing a broken plain stretching back from the margin of the 
Rappahannock. In the early hours of the day the sun struggled 
with a thick haze ; but as the morninsr mist lifted there was sud- 
denly revealed one of the most animated scenes of the war, in 
which the Confederates, looking down as from an amphitheatre, 
saw before them a plain alive with the multitudes of a great army, 
and the gleaming bayonets of columns advancing to the attack. 
On the crest of hills the lines of the Confederate army stretched 
away, and on a commanding eminence, a little southeast of Marye's 
Heights, Gen, Lee obtained a view of the entire field. Occasion- 
ally Jackson rode up to this point of observation, where Lee 
camly conversed with his lieutenants, and arranged the final order 
of battle. Once Gen. Longstreet exclaimed to Jackson : " Are you 
not scared by that multitude of Yankees you have before you 
down there ? " To which the latter replied : " Wait till they come 
a little nearer, and they shall either scare me or I'll scare them." 

The sun had no sooner let in light enough to disclose the prox- 
imity of the lines than the battle commenced with a fierce attack 
upon A. P. Hill, who held Jackson's front. The divisions of 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 209 

Early and Taliaferro composed Jackson's second line, while D. H. 
Hill's division was held in reserve. Jackson estimated the enemy 
in his front at 55,000 men — the wing of Franklin, supported by a 
portion of Hooker's division. The first serious incident of the 
battle was the irruption of this heavy mass through Hill's line. 
Bnt it was only a temporary triumph ; Jackson's second line was 
ordered forward, checked the enemy's advance, and drove him with 
great slaughter from the woods to the railroad, only ceasing the 
pursuit far within the range of the enemy's artillery. 

The enemy appears to have been satisfied with this trial of 
Jackson, and during the remainder of the day did not renew the 
attack upon him, limiting their demonstration to a spiteful cannon- 
ade on his lines. The chief interest of the field transpired upon 
the left, where the day was decisively won. In the afternoon, 
Jackson learning the brilliant fortune on other parts of the field, 
dispatched an order that " he was going to advance and attack 
the enemy precisely at sunset, and Gen. Stuart was desired to ad- 
vance his artillery and fire as rapidly as possible, taking care not 
to injure the troops as they attacked." He had conceived the des- 
perate enterprise of driving the enemy into the river. With his 
watch in his hand, he counted the minutes until the sun touched 
the horizon, while he considered the terrible risks of the enterprise, 
the double embankments of the river road before him, and the im- 
mense artillery which crowned the Stafford hills on the other side 
of the river. Just as he moved forward, and his first line sprung 
to the deadly work before it, the enemy opened all his artillery ; 
it covered Jackson's whole front ; with a quick perception and 
perfect self-command he saw the risk and cost of the endeavour, 
and in a moment relinquished it. It was enough that the day was 
won. 

Of what followed the brilliant but imperfect victory of Fred- 
ericksburg, Gen. Jackson writes in his official report: "On the 
15th the enemy still remained in our front, and, in the evening of 
that day, sent in a flag of truce requesting a cessation of hostilities 
between his left and our right wing, for the purpose of removing 
his wounded from the field, which, under previous instructions 
from the Commanding General, was granted. Our troops patiently 
remained in position on that, as they had done the previous day, 
eagerly awaiting another attack from the enemy ; and such was the 

14 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

desire to occupy the front line, when such an attack should be 
made, that the division of Maj.-Gen. D. H, Hill sent in a written 
request to be permitted to remain in the front line until next day. 
But our brave troops were disappointed in the expectation of another 
attack. For whilst they patiently waited during the night of the 
15th, in the hope of another encounter on the following day, and 
of visiting upon the invaders of their sacred homes and firesides a 
just retribution for the outrages of this most unprovoked and un- 
christian war, the enemy hurriedly and silently, during that night, 
made good his retreat by recrossing the river," 

The campaign of 1863 opens with the battle of Chancellorsville. 
In April of that year the two armies confronted each other on the 
banks of the Eappahannock from a point above its confluence with 
the Rapidan as far down as Port Royal. The bulk of the Confed- 
erate forces remained, however, near Fredericksburg. Lee had 
been weakened by detachments ; he had not more than 45,000 
men ; and when Hooker, the new Federal commander, with 
twice his numbers, crossed the Rappahannock with the design 
of enveloping him, and left fronting Fredericksburg Sedgwick, 
with a force nearly matching Lee's whole army in numbers, the 
situation was never more desperate for the Confederates. In the 
last days of April, Hooker had got the greater portion of his army 
across the Rappahannock, and was moving towards Chancellors- 
ville, about four miles south of the point of the confluence of the 
Rapidan. The divisions of Anderson and AIcLaws were marched 
westwai'd to arrest the progress of Hooker, while Jackson remained 
in tlie lines occupied by him in the battle of Fredericksburg, 
watching the proceedings of Sedgwick before him. On the 29th 
April, Lee, determining to meet Sedgwick by a feint, left Early's 
division only to confront him, while Jackson stole rapidly away 
to reinforce Anderson and McLaws, and to take the aggressive 
against Hooker. In the mists of the morning and under cover 
of the forest, Jackson passed securely out of view, defying the 
espionage of the enemy's balloons, and before noon was with Gen. 
Lee on Hooker's front, busy in disclosing his real strength and 
position. 

The enemy had here 90.000 troops intrenched at their 
leisure; his front was well-nigh impregnable; and the design of 
assailing him from the east or the south was speedily abandoned. 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 211 

Gen. Jackson eagerly proposed to throw his command entirely 
into Hooker's rear, availing himself of the absence of the Federal 
cavalry, and to assail him from the west, and in concert with 
Anderson and McLaws. It was a characteristic, brilliant, hazard- 
ous adventure; it involved a second detachment from Lee's sadly 
diminished army — Early remaining at Fredericksburg with about 
seven thousand men ; it left only Anderson and McLaws to " con- 
tain " Hooker ; and yet it was the best thing to be done under all 
the circumstances. 

The plan of action was decided in a council held at night in a 
cluster of pine trees, and at the foot of one of these Jackson slept, 
after discussing the grand adventure of the morrow. The thought 
of its peril might have kept an ordinary commander awake. He 
had undertaken to move, without being discovered, along the 
entire front of the enemy, and in close proximity to his lines; to 
make his way by unfrequented roads, and through dense thickets 
to his flank and rear; to attack the large force in the intrench- 
ments above Chancellorsville, and to take the chances of a repulse, 
where, with 22,000 men, and without the possibility of assistance 
from Gen. Lee, he would have been at the enemy's mercy. 
Everything was put upon the issue of this movement; but having 
once calculated it, Jackson was perfectly self-possessed, and a more 
than usual confidence is said to have shone in his features. 

In the morning of the 2d May, Jackson was in the saddle. He 
had learned the absence of hostile cavalry ; the friendly screen of 
forests which surrounded Chancellorsville had been described to 
him. Diverging westward from the Fredericksburg plank-road, 
he pursued his march by a forest path ; passed a point known as 
"the Furnace;" there struck into a road which intersected the 
Orange plank-road, on which the enemy's force was planted, 
regaining which to the northward, he would be in a position to 
turn Hooker's left flank. But it was impossible to make the 
perilous flank-march across the whole of the enemy's front with- 
out attracting some attention, for his scouts were mounted in the 
tops of the highest trees, and the screen of the forest was not 
always available. As the column of Jackson passed over a hill 
near "the Furnace," it partially disclosed itself ; but the enemy, 
instead of taking alarm, was seized with the conceit of interpreting 
the movement as a retreat towards Richmond on the part of Lee. 



212 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

Sickles, who observed the movement, struck the rear of the column, 
took a few prisoners, and sent an elated account to Hooker, who 
dispatched to Sedgwick at Fredericksburg: " We know the enemy 
is flying^ trying to save his trains; two of Sickles' divisions are 
among them." 

The enemy's pleasant delusion was to be broken in a few hours 
by a sudden and almost mortal blow. At three o'clock in the after- 
noon, Jackson had arrived six miles west of Chancellorsville, and 
upon precisely the opposite side of the enemy to that occupied by 
Gen. Lee. Here he wrote his last dispatch to the Commanding Gen- 
eral : "I hope, so soon as practicable, to attack. I trust that an ever 
kind Providence will bless us with success." Two hours were con- 
sumed in preparations for the attack ; orders were issued, aides and 
orderlies galloped to and fro, and between five and six o'clock, 
Jackson advanced his force in three parallel lines, Rodes holding 
the front and tearing through the thickets to get within view of 
the enemy's lines. The right wing of Hooker's army, composed 
of the Eleventh corps under Howard, rested on the plank-road, 
all unsuspicious of danger. As Rodes' men burst from the woods, 
uttering loud cheers, attacking the alarmed enemy in front and 
flank, it appeared that scarcely any organized resistance was offered 
to the assault. Some of Howard's troops ran from the suppers 
they were cooking; a few seized their arms, and endeavoured to 
defend themselves ; but quickly the whole corps was in rout, the 
men flying in the wildest confusion, and leaving the field strewn 
with their guns and knapsacks. 

For three miles the Federals were swept back by a resistless 
charge, and panic-stricken fugitives fled towards the fords of the 
Rappahannock. In the dusk of nightfall there was a rushing 
whirlwind of men, artillery, and wagons sweeping down the road, 
and through the woods, in mad retreat. The Confederates pressed 
forward through the barriers of the forest, entangled now and then 
in an abattis of felled trees, their lines falling into disorder, but 
their victorious shouts still resounding in the woods. A descrip- 
tion of Jackson at this time says: " The only order given by him 
had been his favourite battle-cry, ' Press forward.' This was his 
message to every General, and his answer to every inquiry. As 
he uttered it, he leaned forward upon his horse, and waved his 
hand as though endeavouring, by its single strength, to urge for- 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 213 

ward his whole line. Never before had his preoccupation of mind, 
and his insensibility to danger, been so great. It was evident that 
he regarded this as his greatest victory." 

By the time, however, the Confederates had reached the ridge 
overlooking that upon which Chancellorsville is situated, about 
half a mile distant, they were in very great confusion ; the divisions 
of Eodes and Colston had been mingled almost inextricably ; the 
enemy was rapidly bringing up artillery to stem the torrent of the 
pursuit. It was now past seven o'clock, and growing dark. 
Jackson had already seized the enemy's breastworks, had taken the 
whole line in reverse, and had pushed forward to within half a mile 
of headquarters. Here it became necessary to desist from the 
attack, in order to re-form the commands; and Jackson now pro- 
ceeded to make preparations for following up his success by a blow 
that should be decisive. His design now was to swinsr round with 
his left, interpose his corps between Hooker's army and IJhited 
States Ford, and capture or destroy it, or be himself destroyed.* 
The enemy was evidently recovering from his panic ; hollow mur- 
murs of preparation sounded through the night ; fifty pieces of 
artillery were concentrated to sweep the approaches to his position 
at the first rustle in the forest that announced a new advance of the 
Confederates ; there was the tramp and hum of men moving to 
their allotted positions; and on the dark lines, gunners stood with 
lighted port-fires to pour swift destruction into the Confederate 
ranks. A. P. Hill was now ordered to move with his division to 
the front, and Jackson rode forward to reconnoitre the enemy's 
position. 

The enemy was less than two hundred yards in front of his 
lines, and no pickets had been established. Jackson had proceeded 
half the distance, when a fire of musketry on his front warned him 
of the enemy's proximity. He turned to ride hurriedly back, 
plunging his horse into the cover of the woods. He had got within 
twenty paces of his lines, accompanied by six or seven riders, when 
there was a cry of "cavalry," and a volley of musketry for the 

* Some days before his death, and while wounded, Jackson, speaking of the attack 
he had made, said with a glow of martial ardour: "If I had not been wounded, I 
would have cut the enemy ofif from the road to United States Ford ; wo would have 
had them entirely surrounded, and they would have been obliged to surrender or cut 
their way out — they had no other alternative." 



214 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

moment blinded the party, their horses recoiling in panic, some of 
them rushing through the woods unmanageable, and frantic from 
terrour. Several of the party fell dead upon the spot. Jackson's 
right hand was penetrated by a ball, his left fore-arm lacerated by 
another, and the same limb broken a little below the shoulder by a 
third, which not only crushed the bone, but severed the main 
artery. But he maintained his seat in the saddle, quieted his 
frantic horse, and turning to Capt. Wilbourne, his signal officer, 
remarked that his arm was broken, and requested to be assisted to 
the ground. As he was being lifted from the saddle he fainted, and 
his feet had to be disengaged from the stirrups. To remove him 
from the spot where he had fallen was absolutely necessary ; the 
enemy was not more than a hundred yards distant, and the battle 
might recommence at any moment. No litter or ambulance was 
at hand, and Lieut. Morrison, his aide, exclaimed, "Let us take the 
General up in our arms, and carry him off! " but Jackson recovered 
from his swoon, and though very faint and pale, replied, "No; if 
yon can help me up, I can walk." Supported by the shoulders, he 
tottered towards the road. A litter was now procured, but it had 
scarcely begun to move, when one of the bearers was shot down, 
and the fire of the enemy's artillery became frightful. The enemy 
had probably perceived some cause of confusion in the Confederate 
ranks, or suspected that another attack was about to commence, and 
now swept the road where Jackson lay with the concentrated fire 
of their heaviest artillery. The bearers of the litter, and all Jack- 
son's attendants, excepting Major Leigh, and Lieuts. Smith and 
Morrison, fled in the woods on either hand to escape the fatal 
tempest. It was a weird and appalling scene. Wild curves of fire 
shot athwart the night sky ; there were broken ranks and riderless 
horses in the woods; and in the interval of all this roar and confu- 
sion were distinctly heard the plaintive notes of the whippoorwills 
in the forest. It seemed that nothing could live in the road, where 
Jackson lay prostrate with his feet to the foe. On one side of 
the sufferer lay Major Leigh, and on the other Lieut. Smith. The 
earth was torn around them; Minie-balls flew hissing over them; 
as the iron hail fell in the road, they could hear the feet of Death 
pattering around them. Jackson endeavoured to rise, when Lieut. 
Smith threw his arm over him, and held him to the ground, saying, 
" Sir, you must lie still ; it will cost you your life if you rise." 



LIEDT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 215 

None of the party hoped to escape unhurt from the tempest of fire ; 
and it appeared, indeed, as if the spirit of the great commander 
was to go out in that great diapason of battle, which rung its 
solemn charges through the forest; while through its foHage 
escaped the startled night-birds, and the moonlit skj hung peace- 
fully above the Wilderness. 

But it was not so ordered. Presently the fire of the enemy 
veered from the road, and the devoted officers who had almost 
miraculously escaped death, assisting Jackson to rise, struck into 
the woods, the General dragging himself painfully along until a 
litter was again procured. The party had proceeded but a short 
distance when one of the litter-bearers stumbled, and Jackson fell 
upon the shoulder where the bone had been shattered. The pain 
must have been exquisite, and for the first time the sufferer 
groaned, and most piteously. When he reached the field hospital 
at Wilderness Eun, he was almost pulseless ; his hands were cold, 
his skin clammy, his face pale, and his lips compressed and blood- 
less. Stimulants were freely applied, and the next morning he was 
free from pain, and his physicians were hopeful of his recovery. 

At this time the last drama of the battle of Chancellorsville 
was being enacted, and Lee was completing the victory which 
Jackson had commenced and assured. The news of the complete 
victory was brought to the sufferer, and he was told how the Stone- 
wall Brigade had joined in the final charge, shouting, "Eemember 
Jackson ! " and how, when their commander, Paxton, fell, they 
rushed forward, unconscious of his absence, led, as it were, by the 
name which formed their battle-cry. He was deeply affected by 
the incident. He said : " The men of that brigade will be, some 
day, proud to say to their children, 'I was one of the Stonewall 
Brigade ! ' " Visitors and letters crowded upon the distinguished 
sufferer, who it was yet hoped would recover. Gen. Lee°wrote : 
"I have just received your note, informing me that you were 
wounded. I cannot express my regret at the occurrence. Could 
I have directed events, I should have chosen for the good of the 
country, to have been disabled in your stead. I congratulate you 
on the victory which is due to your skill and energy." Upon read- 
ing it, Jackson reverently said: " Gen. Lee should give the glory 
to God." 

On the fifth day of his sufferings, symptoms of pneumonia were 



216 LIEUT." GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

discovered, and when the week passed, his condition was such that 
his wife, who attended him, was informed that his recovery was 
very doubtful, and that she should be prepared for the worst. 
The prospect of death produced no change in the Christian hero. 
When informed of it by his wife, he was silent for a moment, and 
then said : " It will be infinite gain to be translated to heaven." 
He advised his wife, in the event of his death, to return to her 
father's house, and added, " You have a kind and good father, but 
there is no one so kind and good as your Heavenly Father." He 
still expressed a hope of his recovery, but requested her, if he 
should die, to have him buried in Lexington, in the Valley of Vir- 
ginia. His exhaustion increased so rapidly that, at eleven o'clock, 
Mrs. Jackson knelt by his bed and told him that before the sun 
went down he would be with his Saviour. He replied, " Oh, no ! 
you are frightened, my child ; death is not so near ; I may yet get 
well." She fell over upon the bed, weeping bitterly, and told him 
again that the physicians said there was no hope. After a moment's 
pause he asked her to call Dr. McGuire. " Doctor, Anna informs 
me that you have told her that I am to die to-day; is it so?" 
When he was answered, he turned his eyes towards the ceiling and 
gazed for a moment or two, as if in intense thought, then replied, 
'* Very good, very good ; it is all right." 

Col. Pendleton came into the room about one o'clock, and he 
asked him, " Who was preaching at headquarters to-day ? " When 
told that the whole army was praying for him, he replied : " Thank 
God ! they are very kind." He said : " It is the Lord's day ; my 
wish is fulfilled. I have always desired to die on Sunday." 

That delirium which appears to seize upon the most powerful 
organizations in the moment of death, began to affect him. His 
mind began to fail and wander, and he frequently talked as if in 
command upon the field, giving orders in his old way ; then the 
scene shifted, and he was at the mess-table, in conversation with 
members of his staff; now with his wife and child ; now at pray- 
ers with his military family. Occasional intervals of return of his 
mind would appear, and during one of them his physician offered 
him some brandy-and-water, but he declined it, saying, " It will 
only delay my departure, and do no good ; I want to preserve my 
mind, if possible, to the last." About half past one he was told 
that he had but two hours to live, and he answered again, feebly 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 217 

but firmly, " Very good ; it is all right." A few moments before he 
died, he cried out in his delirium, " Order A. P. Hill to prepare for 
action ! pass tiie infantry to the front rapidly ! tell Major Hawks " 
— then stopped, leaving the sentence unfinished. Presently a smile 
of ineffable sweetness spread itself over his pale face, and he said 
quietly, and with an expression as if of relief, " Let us cross over the 
river, and rest under the shade of the trees ; " and then without 
pain or the least struggle, his spirit passed from earth to the man- 
sions of the eternal and just. 

Gen. Jackson's death was officially announced to the army in 
which he served by the following order, which was issued by the 
Commanding General : 

Headquarters, ARirr of Northern Virginia, May 11, 1863. 
"With deep grief the Commanding-General announces to the 
army the death of Lieutenant-General T. J. Jackson, who expired 
on the 10th instant, at a quarter-past three p.m. The daring, skill, 
and energy of this great and good soldier, by an all-wise Provi- 
dence are now lost to us. But while we mourn his death, we feel 
that his spirit still lives, and will inspire the whole army with his 
indomitable courage and unshaken confidence in God as our hope 
and strength. Let his name be a watchword to his corps, who 
have followed him to victory on so many fields. Let the oflScers 
and soldiers imitate his invincible determination to do everything 
in the defense of our beloved country. 

E. E. Lee, General. 

The remains were carried to Eichmond, which clothed herself 
in mourning. Had a visible pall overspread the city, it could not 
have expressed grief more profound, nor sorrow more universal, 
than that which filled every bosom and sat upon every countenance. 
The public heart was full of grief to bursting. The special train 
bearing the remains advanced into the city through an avenue which 
for two miles was thronged with multitudes of men and women. It 
drove slowly up into the d^pot, the bells of the city meanwhile 
sending their solemn peals over the city and into thousands of throb- 
bing hearts. The coffin was removed from the car and enshrouded 
with the flag under which the Christian hero fought and fell, cov- 
ered with spring flowers and placed upon the hearse in waiting. 



218 LIEUT. GEN. STONE V^ALL JACKSON. 

The cortege moved through the main streets of the city, and then 
returned to the Capitol. When the hearse reached the steps of the 
Capitol, the pall-bearers, headed by Gen. Longstreet, bore the 
corpse into the hall of the lower house of the Congress, where it 
was placed upon a species of altar, draped with snowy white, be- 
fore the Speaker's chair. The coffin was still enfolded with the 
white, blue, and red, of the Confederate flag. 

Here the face and bust of the dead was uncovered ; and the 
expectant thousands now claimed the melancholy satisfaction of 
obtaining the last look of the beloved commander. It was esti- 
mated that twenty thousand persons filed through the hall to view 
the body as it lay in state for the greater part of the day. In 
recognition of the solemn occasion all business in the city was 
suspended during the day, and the theatres were closed at night. 
The next morning the remains were placed on a special train for 
Lexington, in charge of a becoming escort of officials and citizens, 
and were finally deposited there, in the village burying-grouud, 
with nothing but a green mound to mark the place of final rest. 

Of the last tributes of a people's love to Jackson, the Richmond 
Examiner said : " All the poor honours that Virginia, sorely trou- 
bled and pressed hard, could affiDrd her most glorious and beloved 
son, having been offered to his mortal part in this capital, the fune- 
ral cortege of the famous Jackson left it yesterday morning, on the 
long road to ' Lexington, in the Valley of Virginia.' It was the 
last wish of the dead man to be buried there, amid the scenes 
familiar to his eyes through the years of his manhood, obscure and 
unrecorded, but perhaps filled with recollections to him not less 
affecting than those connected with the brief but crowded period 
passed upon a grander stage. This desire, expressed at such a 
time, demanded and has received unhesitating compliance. Yet 
many regret that his remains will not rest in another spot. Near 
this city is a hill crowned by secular oaks, washed by the waters 
of the river, identified with what is great in the State's history 
from the days of Elizabeth to the present hour, which has been 
well selected as the place of national honour for the illustrious dead 
of Virginia. There sleep Monroe and Tyler. We have neither a 
Westminster nor a Pantheon, but all would wish to see the best 
that we could give conferred on Jackson. Hereafter, Virginia 
will build him a stately tomb, and strike a medal to secure the 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. .219 

memory of his name beyond the reach of accident, if accident 
were possible. But it is not possible ; nor is a monument neces- 
sary to cause the story of this man's life to last when bronze shall 
bave corroded and marble crumbled." 



220 LIEUT. GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Review of Gen. Jackson's services and character. — True nature of his ambition. — The 
value of glory. — Religious element in Gen. Jackson's character. — Peculiarity of 
his religious habits. — Anecdotes. — Want of natural amiability. — Harshness of 
manner towards his officers. — His severe idea of war. — Destructiveuess. — His 
readiness to forgive. — A touching personal incident. — His self-possession as a mark 
of " genius." — His military faculty not a partial one. — European estimates of his 
career. — A lesson to Northern insolence and rancour. 

"We have said Gen. Jackson was a born soldier. This fur- 
nishes a larger and more thorough insight into his character than 
any other observation. We use the term soldier, not merely as 
denoting an aptitude to arms, or even the possession of the military 
genius, but we include the common association with the profession 
of an ardent love for glorj', a thirst for distinction, a peculiar am- 
bition, that values a name in history above the coarser gifts of 
popularity and power. An ambition so pure and ideal ran percep- 
tibly through the whole of Jackson's wonderful career. His pas- 
sion for renown was not of that common type that seeks the 
tangible gifts of power, and enjoj^s the evanescent noises of popu- 
larity. He had not that order of mind that mistakes " a dunce's 
puff for fame," and the penny-a-lines of the newspaper for the in- 
scriptions of history. His was an ambition that valued " skilled 
commendation," and was not entirely insensible to the praise of 
his contemporaries ; but which mostly and chiefly prized the name 
in history — an aspiration after the ideal, and not the vulgar hunt 
for notoriety and its gifts. Such an ambition is consonant with the 
most refined spirit of Christianity ; it resides in the depths of great 
minds ; and it easily escapes observation, because those moved by 
it are generally silent men, of mysterious air and mechanical man- 
ners, living within themselves, conscious that few can enter into 
sympathy with them, and constantly practising the art of impene- 
trable reserve. The world, in fact, often deceives itself in this 
regard, and has mistaken many prominent actors on its theatre for 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 221 

emotionless and ascetic men, deaf to praise — the mere cold figures 
in a round of duty — who yet have been inwardly consumed by the 
fires of ambition, and have made daily sacrifice on its altars. 

There has been a good deal of slighting philosophy about the 
emptiness of historic fame ; a marked tendency in a superficial and 
materialistic school of morals to caricature it as a shadow, and ridi- 
cule it as the object of a human life. We reject this philosophy 
with infinite contempt and irrepressible disgust. Nations have 
fought for titles to fame as above all other objects of contest, and 
in this have represented but the aspirations for glory in the breasts 
of the individuals composing the society. These aspirations are 
given to us by the Creator ; and so far from the love of glory 
being a frailty, it may be declared to be of the very dignity of hu- 
man nature. 

The writer recollects a pretty story translated from the French, 
which was published as a lesson for the times, in a Richmond 
newspaper in the first months of the war. A young man uses 
some shallow and plausible phrases about glory being an "empty 
sound," " the bubble reputation," etc. His father, a worn veteran, 
reproves him; speaks in tender and reverential language of the 
great wars, teaches the lesson that the glory of a nation, that all the 
best and sentimental parts of civilization, proceed from its soldiers ; 
and declares that the mutilations and scars of his body are dear as 
his children ; ornaments of his age, tokens of his manhood, letters 
of his nobility, even more than stars and crosses of diamonds in 
the eyes of his countrymen.* 

* The same journal that contained this early lesson of the war, had this to say in 
summing up the results of the third year of the contest : 

'' But this year is not without glorious consolations. The unaided strength and 
unbacked courage of the nation redeemed its fortunes from the dust, plucked up its 
drowning honour by tlie locks, and tore from the very jaws of death the right to Uve 
forever. History will hereafter show no page illuminated with more enduring glory 
than those which record tho heroic events of the circle of months which end with this 
day. In these months of a forlorn republic, a people covered with the opprobrium 
and prejudice of the world, have secured a place in the Pantheon of remembered 
nations far above the most famous. Neither the story of Greece, or Rome, or France, 
or England, can bear a fair parallel with our own brief but most eventful narrative. 
Is not this triumphant crown of victory worth the awful price ? The question will 
be answered according to the temperament of the reader. Many think, with Sir John, 
that honour cannot cure a broken leg, and that all the national glory that has been 
won in battle since Greeks fought Trojans, wiU not compensate the loss of a beef or 



222 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

But whatever may be the precise worth of martial glory, and 
however it may be measured by a coarse commercial philosophy, 
it is certain that it was the dominant passion of Jackson's life, and 
equally certain that it detracted nothing from the beauty and 
harmony of his character, and made him none the less a man or a 
Christian. The spirit that courted the greatest amount of danger 
in the Mexican War for the greatest amount of glory, showed 
the same tendency in the higher career of arms from Manassas to 
Chancellorsville. It is said, that when Jackson was once asked 
if he had felt no trepidation when he made most extraordinary 
exposures of his person in the battles in Mexico, he replied, that 
the only anxiety of which he was conscious in any of these engage- 
ments, was a fear lest he should not meet danger enough to make 
his conduct under it as conspicuous as he desired ; and as the 
danger grew greater, he rejoiced in it as his opportunity for dis- 
tinction. This sentiment of the true soldier survived to Jackson's 
last moments, however emotions of piety may have been mingled 
with the ardour and joy of the warriour. 

The religious element in Gen. Jackson's character has come in 
for an undue share of public attention ; and indeed one of his 
biographers has committed the mistake of taking the religion of 
the man as the stand-point of the entire view, forgetting that the 
interest of the religious life is merely auxiliary to the interest which 
Stonewall Jackson has excited in the world as a master of war. 
There are other considerations which make Jackson's piety of very 
partial interest. It is true that he was an enthusiast in religion, 
that he was wonderfully attentive in his devotions, and that prayer 
was as the breath of his nostrils. To one of his friends he declared 
that he had cultivated the habit of " praying without ceasing," and 
connecting a silent testimony of devotion with every familiar act 
of the day. " Thus," he said, " when I take my meals, there is 
the grace. When I take a draught of water, I always pause, as 

a dollar. But the young, the brave, the generous will everywhere judge that the 
exercise and exhibition in this year of the noblest virtues has been more than worth 
the misfortunes which have marked its progress. 

" Sound the clarion, fill the fife ; 
To a sensual world proclaim. 
One crowded hour of glorious life 
Is worth an age without a name I " 



LIEUT.-GEN, STONEWALL JACKSON. 223 

my palate receives the refreshment, to lift up my heart to God in 
thanks and prayer for the water of life. Whenever I drop a letter 
in the box, I send a petition along with it, for God's blessing upon 
its mission, and upon the person to whom it is sent. When I 
break the seal of a letter just received, I stop to pray to God that 
He may prepare me for its contents, and make it a messenger of 
good." Bat notwithstanding the extreme fervour of Jackson's 
religion, it is remarkable that he kept it for certain places and com- 
panies ; that he was disposed to be solitary in its exercise ; and that 
he was singularly innocent of that Cromwellian fanaticism that 
mixes religious invocations with orders and utterances on a battle- 
field. He prayed in his tent ; he delighted in long talks on reli- 
gion with the many clergymen who visited him ; he poured out 
the joys and aspirations of his faith in his private correspondence ; 
but he seldom introduced religion into the ordinary conversation 
of his military life, and he exhibited this side of his character in 
the army in scarcely anything more than. Sunday services in his 
camp, and a habitual brief line in all his official reports acknowl- 
edging the Divine favour. He was very attentive to these out- 
ward observances ; but his religious habit was shy and solitary ; 
he had none of the activity of the priest ; we hear but little of 
his work in the hospitals, of private ministrations by the death- 
bed, and of walks and exercises of active charity. In his military 
intercourse he was the military commander ; and though he often 
visibly prayed on the battle-field, it was in invariable silence, and 
he never mixed the audible exhortations of religion with the clear 
and ringing notes of his orders for the charge. Such a mixture 
we think, is always of questionable taste, and sometimes borders 
on irreverence. Thus it is related of one of Jackson's former pas- 
tors who had a military education and commanded his artillery, 
that in one of the early battles of the war, before delivering the 
fire of his batteries upon the enemy, he exclaimed : " May we 
kill a thousand of them, and may God have mercy on their souls ! " 
If such utterance is authentic, we think there is something im- 
proper and distasteful in it. 

The life of Jackson is, indeed, so copious of anecdote, particu- 
larly Avith reference to his religious habit, that it is difticult to 
choose from the mass of minor narratives, those most indicative of 
the character of the man. Among his curious rules of Christian 



224 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSOlSr. 

discipline was one wliicli required, whenever the usual Sunday ex- 
ercises were omitted in his command, from the exigencies of the 
campaign, that some other day of the week should be set apart for 
religious services, to be performed in all respects as on the Sabbath. 
One of these occasions occurred in the forced and hurried march 
from McDowell, so necessary a preliminary to what followed of 
the Valley campaign; and the next Tuesday was appointed for 
preaching and services in the camp. Capt. Alfriend, a gallant 
young Virginian, in Jackson's command, relates that in the morn- 
ing of this day, he was met some distance from his camp by the 
great commander, who rode towards him, unattended, and asked 
briefly " if there was preaching going on." "I do not know," re- 
plied Capt. A. " Show me to your colonel's headquarters, sir," 
rejoined Jackson. They had not proceeded far when their notice 
was attracted to a multitude of men standing in the open air, pay- 
ing respectful attention to a sermon of a favourite chaplain, Mr. 
Mcllvain. Seeing this, a spectacle so gratifying to his solicitude, 
Jackson said, with a smile of satisfaction, " Ah ! it's all right ; " 
and turning to his young companion with the winning and half- 
playful expression he sometimes wore, he remarked, " And now, 
Capt. A., won't you promise to know there is preaching next time 
by going yourself to hear it." The manner of this simple remark 
was so touching and solicitous, that Capt. Alfriend declared that 
never thereafter, in the course of a long and stormy experience as 
a soldier, did he omit an occasion to attend religious services in his 
command. He describes with the pathos of a noble heart the im- 
pression made upon him, as Jackson, after the conversation just 
related, dismounted, fastened his horse to a neighbouring tree, and 
then proceeded to the gathering around the preacher, standing 
shoulder to shoulder with his own men, a common worshipper, 
claiming the common privilege of hearing the word of God. The 
day had been showery, and just as the benediction was pronounced 
there was a heavy fall of rain ; but despite this, as the solemn 
words were pronounced, Jackson's head was uncovered, the rug- 
ged shoulders bowed to the pitiless storm, and in that attitude of 
humility the figure of the illustrious General, doing common rev- 
erence to his Maker with the soldiers of his command, constituted 
a picture more truly sublime than when he stood on the battle's 
crest and challenged all that men could do. 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 225 

Among all tlie Confederate commanders Jackson was most re- 
markable for his courtesy to the private soldiers of his command. 
He never failed to return the salute of the humblest man, and to 
touch his cap with uniform precision. Once on the march in 
the Valley, he came upon a private separated from his command, 
whose face had been horribly disfigured by a musket-ball that had 
traversed it. He was no straggler, but was evidently doing his 
best on the march. Jackson rode up to him and asked the name 
of his regiment. The man replied. " Where were you wounded ? " 
was the next question. " Yesterday, at Port Eepublic, General." 
Eaising his cap, and with an air that thrilled the poor soldier, Jack- 
son said : " I thank you for your gallantry." These six words 
were a scroll of fame that many men would have died for. 

Gen. Jackson, despite such examples of courtesy as we have 
just related, did not have that natural amiability which was the 
charm of Lee's character; and his intercourse with his officers in 
matters of duty, was in striking contrast to the generosity of the 
latter towards his subordinates, and his forbearance of censure 
almost to that point where such forbearance ceases to be a virtue. 
In everything that concerned duty Jackson was stern and exacting ; 
he was slow to admit excuses ; laborious himself, he expected of 
all his officers prompt and precise execution of whatever work was 
assigned them. The man who was so gentle in his intercourse in 
times of peace, who was so mild in ordinary companies, was the 
very picture of severity on the battle-field ; he appeared then to 
be translated into another being — a passionate, distinct, harsh com- 
mander, whose sharp and strident orders were as inexorable as 
messengers of fate. He was naturally of a very high temper; he 
was irascible and domineering; and it required all the grace of his 
Christian character and the severest discipline of his religion to keep 
within bounds his impulses of anger. He never hesitated to cen- 
sure freely the conduct of the officers with whom he was associated. 
When Gen. Loring, by withdrawing from Romney, defeated Jack- 
son's early plan of expelling the enemy from a large portion of 
the Valley district, and relieving some six or seven counties, the 
latter showed an almost excessive resentment by tendering his resig- 
nation, and went to the extent of declaring that Loring ought to be 
cashiered. At another period of his campaign in the Valley, on 
Banks' retreat across the Potomac, Ashby came under the displeas- 

15 



226 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

ure of his commander, and was charged -with remissness in the 
pursuit ; but happil}^ Ashby made abundant reparation before his 
death, and Gen, Jackson wrote in his official report an extraordi- 
nary tribute to the fallen cavalier. 

Having no sense of danger himself, or at least holding it in no 
estimation by the side of his duty and pride, Gen. Jackson never 
could bear the least word on that subject from any of his officers. 
To any expostulation of peril, his manner was stern and terrible 
beyond description. At Malvern Hill, which was rather a bloody 
combat than a scientific battle, he ordered one of his officers to 
take a brigade across the open space in front of the enemy's works. 
The officer protested that it was impossible ; that his command could 
not live through such a storm of fire. Jackson turned to him a 
countenance rigid with displeasure, and in a low and intense tone 

said, " General , I always endeavour to take care of my 

wounded and to bury my dead ; you have heard my order ; obey 
it." Even in his last appearance on the field of battle — when sup- 
posed to be dying in the tangles of the Wilderness — he showed his 
old fierce impatience at the least suggestion of retreat. Hearing 
one of his brigadiers say that his lines were so badly broken that 
he would have to fall back, he raised his wounded form, and with 
eyes glittering with pain and anger, said sharply, " You must hold 
your ground, sir." It was the last order he ever gave on the field 
of battle. 

It may readily be inferred from Gen. Jackson's stern character 
as a warriour, and his intense realization of the struggle, that he 
was a stranger to all weak sentimentalism ; that he hesitated at 
none of the harsh necessities of war; that he regarded it as a fierce 
competition of life with life ; that he was averse to much of the osten- 
tation and refinement of arms. Not that he was destitute of 
chivalry, or of the fine emotions of magnanimity to the conquered. 
On the contrary, he was noted for his generosity to prisoners, his 
indisposition to exult over an adversary, and the moderate state- 
ment of his victories. But his idea of war was wounds, death, the 
shedding of blood. He appears to have had the same gloomy con- 
ception as Forrest, the brilliant and destructive cavalry chief of the 
West : " his men fought for blood." On one occasion, when he 
was falling back from Winchester, three Federal cavalrymen per- 
ibrmed an inexplicable feat of daring in charging through the 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 227 

whole length of one of his brigades. Two of them were shot from 
their horses. Col. Patton, giving the details of the incident to 
Jackson, said he would have prevented the troops from firing on 
these audacious men if he could have controlled them ; thej were 
brave men who had got into a desperate situation, where it was as 
easy to capture them as to kill them. Jackson's reply was brief 
and cold. " Shoot them all," he said ; " I don't want them to- be 
brave." 

These were not the utterances of a hard heart, or the indica- 
tion of a cruel disposition. They were nothing more than the 
expression of the severe and supreme idea of war. Of all high 
Confederate commanders, Gen, Jackson appears to have been most 
convinced of the necessity of fierce and relentless war. He realized 
fully that it was quite vain to court the enemy with shows of mag- 
nanimity, and that the only way to deal with a horde of invaders 
was by examples of terrour and lessons of blood. Yet no one was 
more attentive to the proper courtesies of war, and in no breast 
bared to the conflict resided a finer spirit of humanity. Judgment 
with him took precedence of the sensibilities, and the commands of 
necessity were broadly translated into the lessons of duty. 

It may naturally be supposed that with Jackson's disposition 
to censure the officers connected with his command and the exac- 
tions he made in severe discipline and hard service he incurred 
many personal enmities in the army, and suffered not a little from 
recriminations. This was especially so before he mounted to the 
height of his reputation, and fought the daring and luminous cam- 
paign of the Valley, At one time detractors were busy with his 
name, and his reputation trembled between that of the great man 
and that of the weak-brained adventurer. At Port Republic he 
passed the crisis of greatness — that nice line in the career of genius 
where doubt and envy cease and the popular admiration be- 
comes irresistible. But whatever personal animosities at any time 
attended his military career, the great commander had not only 
the sublime Christian power to forgive, but to him who confessed 
his errour, he was at once a tender and affectionate friend, 

A touching relation is given by an intimate friend of one of 
these acts of reconciliation. It was the night after the battle of 
Fredericksburg, and Jackson, who had just come from a council 
of war, where he had given the grim and laconic advice to drive 



228 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

the crippled enemy into the river, and consequently expected a 
renewal of the contest in the morning, was engaged in meditation 
and prayer in his tent, as was his invariable custom, whenever 
circumstances allowed it, before the hour of battle. About mid- 
night the sound of horses' hoofs was heard, a messenger from Gen. 
Maxcy Gregg was announced, and an oflScer appearing at the open- 
ing of the tent saluted Jackson, and said: "Gen. Gregg is dying, 
General, and sent me to say to you that he wrote you a letter 
recently in which he used expressions he is now sorry for. He 
says that he meant no disrespect by that letter, and was only doing 
what he considered his duty. He hopes you will forgive him." 
There was a moment of silence, as when a noble heart is touched 
by inexpressible emotions; and then turning to the messenger, Jack- 
son said : " Tell Gen. Gregg I will be with him immediately." In 
a moment his horse was saddled and Jackson rode silently out in 
the dark and bitter night on his errand of forgiveness and consola- 
tion. What passed between the two officers — what of prayer and 
comfort was spoken in the solemn farewell — is not known to mortals. 
The spirits of both have met since and forever in the world be- 
yond the grave. 

Summing the exploits, and fairly regarding the character of 
Jackson, there is no doubt that he was a great man in the highest 
sense of those words. He had genius. All his campaigns showed 
one remarkable trait : an almost infallible insight into the condi- 
tion and temper of his adversary. He was never successfully sur- 
prised ; he was never routed in battle ; he never had a train or 
any organized portion of his army captured by the enemy ; he was 
always ready to fight ; and he never made intrenchments. There 
is among men of action perhaps no more striking evidence of that 
subtile quality of mind, genius, than a perfect self-possession in 
circumstances which surprise and alarm ordinary persons; for it is 
the peculiarity of genius to act with intuition and rapidity, to make 
instant combinations, and to obtain advantage of mere intellect, 
by planning and executing, while the latter has taken time to 
meditate. Jackson was supreme in his self-possession ; never 
more calm and complacent than when beset bj' circumstances 
which to his companions in arms were the occasions of the utmost 
trepidation. When his little army was nearly cut to pieces at 
Kernstown, he bivouacked it, the night after the battle, close 



LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 229 

enough to the lines of the victour to hear the conversation of the 
Federal soldiers at their camp-fires, and went to sleep in a fence- 
corner with as much unconcern as if there were no enemy within 
a hundred miles. At Harper's Ferry a courier dashed into his 
presence with the alarming intelligence that McClellan's whole 
army was within a few miles of him. The news was more than 
probable ; it would have been literally true if the Federal army 
had not been delayed in the mountain passes b}'- the tenacious and 
almost superhuman courage of a small Confederate force. Jackson 
received the report perfectly at his ease ; with such calmness, indeed, 
as to abash the messenger, and only called after him, as lie was 
retiring, to know " whether McClellan had a drove of cattle with 
him," as if anticipating the capture of so much subsistence for his 
almost starving army. 

A certain popular opinion has gained ground that Jackson's 
military faculty was a partial one ; that he was splendid in execu- 
tion of any work designated for him, and was thus an important 
auxiliary of Lee, but that he was but little competent to originate 
and plan. This estimate is unjust, and has no foundation what- 
ever in fact. Jackson had all the qualities of a great General, and 
the war produced no military genius more complete, or more 
diversified in its accomplishments. He planned as brilliantly as 
he executed. His campaign in the Valley (although the general 
design was inspired by Johnston) was an independent one, and is 
remarkable for its clear-cut plan, and movements as precise in 
their adjustment as a diagram of Euclid. The great stroke of gen- 
eralship at Chancellorsville — the flank attack that came from the 
Wilderness as a blaze of lightning — originated with Jackson, and 
not with Gen. Lee. It was proposed by the former in a council of 
war, and was but a repetition of those sudden and mortal blows, 
which, dealt in the crisis of the contest, had made all his victories, 
and completed the circle of his fame. 

The death of Gen. Jackson was an irreparable loss to the Con- 
federacy ; and even in distant communities it was mourned as 
the extinction of one of the great men of the world. His fame 
extended to the most cultivated parts of Europe, and the severe 
press of the Old World freely admitted him into the company of 
the greatest characters of history. The London Times had desig- 
nated him as the " Heaven-born General " of the Confederacy. 



230 LIEUT.-GEN. STONEWALL JACKSON. 

The London Herald held up his great fame, in contrast to the 
barren boastfulness of the North, and said: "The Northern 
Kepublic has produced no heroes of the stamp of Jackson. One 
such man might be the salvation of them yet. Blatant dema- 
gogues at home, bragging imbeciles in the field, afford a spectacle 
so absurd, yet so painful, that Europe knows not whether to laugh 
or weep at the degradation of her children. The Northerners 
want a man to do a man's work. The only great men of the war 
have been developed in the Souths 

At a public meeting held in England, this resolution was put 
on record: "That we have heard with profound regret of the 
death of Lieut.-Gen. Thomas Jonathan Jackson, of the Confederate 
States of North America ; a man of pure and upright mind, 
devoted as a citizen to his duty, cool and brave as a soldier, able and 
energetic as a leader, of whom his opponents say he was ' sincere 
and true and valiant.' " We quote this language not only for its 
clear sum of Jackson's qualities, but for its peculiar allusion to the 
testimony of that enemy, against whom the dead hero had con- 
tended in honourable arms. The tribute was taken as the generous 
admission of an antagonist ; the rancour and insolence of the con- 
queror may recall it, and entitle Jackson " the rebel ; " but the 
world will think the greatest victory on the part of the North, the 
highest gift of peace, the most enduring fruit of reconciliation, 
would have been to have won such names as Jackson and Lee 
for the common glory of America, to have made the heroes of the 
South the heroes of the nation, and to have woven a common 
ornament of whatever was brilliant and admirable on both sides 
of a war distressful and deplorable in every respect except in 
its examples of genius and heroism. 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 



CHAPTEE XX. 

Early life of P. G-. T. Beauregard. — His gallantry and promotions in the Mexican War.— 
Life in Louisiana. — Appointment in the Confederate Army. — Defences of Charles- 
ton. — Battle of Fort Sumter. — Gen. Beauregard takes command in Virginia. — His 
contempt of " the Yankees." — A grotesque letter. — Popular sentiment concerning 
the war. — Explanation of the sudden disappearance of the Union party in the 
South. — Gen. Beauregard's declaration of the purposes of the war. — " Beauty and 
Booty." — A Northern journal on Butler vs. Beauregard. — Battle of Manassas. — 
Comphmentary letter from President Davis. — The popularity of Gen. Beauregard 
alarms the vanity of the President. — A scandalous quarrel. — Gen. Beauregard's 
poUtical '"card" in the Richmond newspapers. 

A Northern periodical, commenting upon the most active 
period of the late war, remarked : "No one who reads the volumi- 
nous reports of Scott's campaign in Mexico can fail to observe 
the frequency with which special honourable mention is made of 
three young officers of engineers — Captain R. E, Lee, First-Lieu- 
tenant Beauregard, and brevet Second-Lieutenant G. B. McClellan. 
Lee seems to have been the special favourite of the veteran General. 

The careful reader of the whole series of dispatches 

respecting the campaign in Mexico will come to the conclusion 
that the three men who, after the veteran General, displayed the 
highest military talents, were the three young officers of engineers: 
Lee, Beauregard, and McClellan." 

The second of this trio of celebrities, Peter Gustavus Toutant 
Beauregard, was born in the parish of St. Bernard, Louisiana, in 
May, 1818. His father was James Toutant Beauregard, of French 
descent, and his mother, Mary Helen Judith de Reggio, a lady of 
Italian descent. 

The early history of Louisiana contains the names of his ances- 
tors. Both on his father's and mother's sides they occupied con- 



232 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

spicuous positions in the new settlement of the post of New 
Orleans. 

After preliminary studies in New Orleans, Beauregard's parents 
sent him to the school kept by the brothers Peugnet, New York 
city. These gentlemen were both ex-captains of the French ser- 
vice : one a graduate of the Polytechnic School, the other of the 
cavalry school at Sauraur. 

The school of Peugnet & Brothers was well known at the 
North as .the " French school," and acquired an extensive reputa- 
tion as a " Commercial and Mathematical School." Young Beau- 
regard remained there a few years, when, in 1 834, he was appointed 
a cadet in the Military Academy at "West Point. In 1838, he 
graduated second in his class, at the age of twenty. According to 
the West Point regulations, those five who take the highest honours 
are entitled to the selection of that arm of the service for which 
they suppose themselves most capable. Beauregard selected the 
engineer corps, and thus, in the inception of his real life, exhibited 
a consciousness of his peculiar abilities, which the future so splen- 
didly indorsed. 

At the breaking out of the war with Mexico, in 1846, after 
repeated applications to the Department at Washington, he was 
allowed to take a part in it. He served through the war as a 
lieutenant of engineers; he fortified Tampico, and was twice 
breveted for gallant conduct and meritorious services: once for 
Contreras and Churubusco, and another time for Chapultepec 
and the Garita of Belen. 

At the siege of Vera Cruz he selected the sites of most of the 
batteries which reduced that city after a siege of about two 
weeks. 

At the attack on Chapultepec, Lieut. Beauregard was engineer 
ofi&cer to Gen, Pillow, commanding the attack. During the assault, 
as the columns were awaiting the ladders, etc., to throw into and 
across the ditches of the citadel, Lieut. Beauregard, noticing Lieut.- 
Col. Joseph E, Johnston, of the voltigeur regiment, placing his 
troops in position, not far off, and encouraging them under the 
tremendous fire of the garrison, took a rifle from the hands of one 
of the soldiers near him, and said to Johnston : " What will you 
bet on this shot? " The latter answered : "One picayune, payable 
in the city of Mexico." Lieut. Beauregard aimed deliberately, and 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 233 

fired, when he said, " I have won, and you will have to pay," which 
Johnston did a few days afterwards. 

It was the advice of Lieut. Beauregard, which, in opposition to 
the opinion of a council of war, decided on the side and manner in 
which the city of Mexico should be attacked. Ex-President Pierce 
well remembers, that at that council he asked to reconsider his 
vote, after Lieut. Beauregard had expressed his views on the 
subject; which example was followed by several of the other 
opponents. 

On his return from Mexico, Beauregard, now a mnjor by 
brevet, resumed his duties in the engineer service, being stationed 
at New Orleans. He was also intrusted with the superintendence 
of the construction of the New Orleans custom-house and marine 
hospital, which to this day testify to his efficiency as an engineer 
and architect. The Government does not possess in any locality 
more suitable or more handsome monuments of its magnificence. 

Selected by President Buchanan, in November, 1860, as Super- 
intendent of West Point, Beauregard assumed the duties of the 
position in January, 1S61, with the rank of colonel ; but soon after 
learning of the secession of Louisiana, he resigned, and returned to 
cast his lot with that of his native State. 

When war appeared imminent, the evidences of talent displayed 
by Col. Beauregard could not be overlooked ; and after offering his 
services to the Confederate States Government, he was ordered to 
take command, as Brigadier-General at CLiarleston, where he con- 
structed batteries to command the entrance into that harbour, and, 
if necessary, reduce Fort Sumter, then held by the Federal forces. 

One remarkable feature connected with the reduction of that 
fort was the use of an " iron-clad floating battery." From this 
sprang the Merrimac and the monitors, and consequences influ- 
encing war on the ocean never before dreamed of. The first iron 
riveted battery was also used at this siege. 

Fort Sumter is famous and interesting as the opening scene of 
hostilities ; and the story of its battle is essentially connected with 
an act of treachery on the part of the Federal Government. When 
South Carolina seceded from the Union, December 20, 1860, the 
event was celebrated in Charleston by a grand banquet; and while 
festivity prevailed, and an unsuspicious community feasted or slept, 
Major Anderson, commanding the Federal forces in the harbour, 



234 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

abandoned Fort Moultrie at midnight, spiked the guns, and con- 
veyed all his men and stores to Fort Sumter. This treacherous and 
menacing act, done in the face of a pledge from President Buchanan 
that the existing military status should undergo no change in South 
Carolina, greatly incensed the State authorities, alarmed the whole 
South, and so scandalized Mr. Buchanan's administration, that Mr. 
Floyd of Virginia, and afterwards Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, 
withdrew from his cabinet in indignation and disgust. 

Soon after President Lincoln's inauguration, commissioners from 
the Confederate government, just established at Montgomery, pro- 
ceeded to Washington to urge a peaceable separation, and to nego- 
tiate for the transfer of government property, and, in particular, 
for the removal of the Federal garrisons from Forts Pickens and 
Sumter, They were told by Mr. Seward, that to treat with them 
avowedly and officially might embarrass the administration of Mr. 
Lincoln ; but they were assured, through an intermediate party, 
that all would yet be well, that the military status of the South 
would be undisturbed, and that Sumter would be evacuated. These 
assurances proved treacherous ; they were only a trick to gain time 
for collecting armaments, and preparing measures of war against 
the South. 

On the 8th of April, 1861, an expedition started from New 
York to convey "provisions to the starving garrison" of Sumter; 
but it consisted of eleven vessels, with an aggregate of 285 guns, 
and 2,400 men. It was evidently designed to provoke a collision, 
and it speedily had that effect. 

This brief story of Sumter explains the artifice by which the 
Federal government, having deceived the South, and outraged its 
confidence, induced it at last to take the initiatory step of resistance, 
and thus gave it the colour of commencing the war. If the first 
shot was fired by the South, the occasion that provoked it was 
given by the North ; and so on the side of the latter was the first 
military aggression, and the true responsibility for the war. 
Apprised of the intentions of the Federal government, and ordered, 
by a dispatch from Montgomery, to demand the evacuation of Fort 
Sumter, Gen. Beauregard communicated with Major Anderson, 
offering him the honourable terms of transferring his garrison to 
any post in the United States he might elect, and saluting his flag 
on taking it down. Anderson refused to surrender ; and to show 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 235 

to the last his desire to avoid a conflict of arms, and the effusion 
of blood, Gen. Beauregard sent him a second proposal in the follow- 
ing words: 

Headquarters Provisional Army, C.S.A., 
Charleston, April 11, 1861, 11 p.m. 

Major : — In consequence of the verbal observations made by 
you to my aides, Messrs. Chestnut and Lee, in relation to the con- 
dition of your supplies, and that you would in a few days be 
starved out if our guns did not batter you to pieces — or words to 
that effect — and desiring no useless effusion of blood, I commu- 
nicated both the verbal observation and your written answer to my 
communication to my Government. If you will state the time at 
which you will evacuate Fort Sumter, and agree that in the mean- 
time you will not use your guns against us, unless ours shall be 
employed against Fort Sumter, we will abstain from opening fire 
upon you. Col. Chestnut and Capt. Lee are authorized by me to 
enter into such agreement with you. You are, therefore, requested 
to communicate to them an open answer. 

I remain. Major, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

P. G. T. Beauregard, 

3fajor.- General commanding. 

Anderson replied by agreeing to evacuate Fort Sumter on the 
15th April, unless he should receive, prior to that time, controlling 
instructions from his Government, or additional supplies. This 
stipulation not being considered satisfactory, as a fleet with supplies 
and reinforcements was known to be off the harbour. Gen. Beaure- 
gard sent an intimation at 3.30 A.M., on April 12, that he would 
open fire on Fort Sumter in one hour's time. 

The fort was reduced in thirty-three hours ; the Federal fleet 
lying at anchor in the distance during the action, and never firing 
a gun. Gen. Beauregard bore testimony to the gallant conduct of 
his adversary, agreed that the garrison might take passage at their 
convenience for New York, and allowed Anderson to salute his 
flag with fifty guns. In this, the first battle of the war. Gen. 
Beauregard's conduct had been most admirable. He had not only 
obtained a great success, but he had shown so much caution and 



236 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

moderation in the preliminaries of the contest, such noble and 
just desires to avert it, and at last, had given such exhibition of 
chivalrous qualities in his intercourse with the enemy, thai he was 
applauded not only for the proof of his military abilities, but for 
the true and elevated representation he had made of the spirit and 
dignity of the new government. Called for by the unanimous 
voice of the Southern people, he was now ordered to take com- 
mand of the main portion of the Confederate army in Northern 
Virginia. He selected Manassas Junction as the point at which he 
would receive the onset of the Federal host, directed by Lieut.- 
Gren. Scott, and immediately commanded by Gen. McDowell. The 
only purely volunteer army the United States have had in the field, 
advanced to what they considered a plain and certain route to 
Richmond.* At the end of May, the North had nearly 100,000 
men under arms, distributed as follows : 

* It will be recollected about this time how replete the Northern newspapers 
were with wild and sensational rumours, in all of which the terrible Beauregard and 
his whereabouts appear to have been the chief subjects of concern. The following 
squib is amusing and characteristic : 

THE WHEREABOUTS OF GEN. BEUAEEGAKD. 

[By telegraph to Vanity Fair — after manner of Dally Papers.] 

Havre de Grace, April 26. — Gen. Beauregard was in Richmond at twenty-three 
minutes past six o'clock yesterday, and will attack Washington at once. 

Philadelphia, April 26. — We learn, on undoubted authority, that Gen. Beaure- 
gard was in Alexandria at twenty-four minutes past six yesterday, reconnoitring. 

Baltimore, April 26. — Gen. Beauregard was in Norfolk at twenty-five minutes 
after six yesterday, and took a gin cocktail with several of the first families. 

Havre de Grace, April 26. — I learn from a gentleman just from Mobile, that 
Gen. Beauregard is on his way North, with 150,000 troops. Gen. Beauregard is six 
feet high, but will not join Blower's " Household Guards." Declines advertising in 
the Household Journal. 

Annapolis, April 26.— Gen. Beauregard was discovered in the White House rear- 
yard last night at twenty-six minutes past six, armed with three large howitzers and 
a portable sledstake. Ho went away after reconnoitring pretty numerously. 

Philadelphia, April 26. — I learn on excellent authority that Gen. Beauregard was 
in Charleston at twenty-two minutes past six yesterday, and had no intention of 
leaving. He was repairing Fort Sumter. 

The people of Bangor, Maine, and of Cape Cod, Mass., report that Gen. Beaure- 
gard has lately been seen prowling around thoye places. 

I learn that Gen. Beauregard is within five miles of Washington. 

The report, in some of your contemporaries, that Gen. Beauregard is within five 
miles of Washington, is utterly without foundation. Sensation dispatches in times 
like these cannot be too strongly deprecated. 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 237 

South of the Potomac, Brig.-Gen. McDowell . . . 21,000 

At Washington, Brig.-Gen. Mansfield .... 22,000 

Fortress Monroe, Maj.-Gen. Butler 9,000 

West Pennsylvania, Maj.-Gen. Keim .... 16,000 

Cincinnati and West, Maj.-Gen. McClellan . . . 13,000 

Cairo and its vicinity. Brig. Gen. Prentiss . . . 6,000 

Baltimore, Brig.-Gen. Cadwallader 5,000 

Philadelphia, Maj.-Gen. Patterson .... 3,000 



Total 95,000 

Such an array of force at the commencement of the war would, 
it might have been supposed, have assured the South of a long and 
difficult period of hostilities, and affected its confidence in a certain 
and early issue of independence. But it is curious how supreme and 
unquestioning was this confidence, how insolent and impatient of 
contradiction. As an illustration of this over-confidence, and as an 
exhibition of contempt for the enemy, we may place here a letter 
of Gen. Beauregard, dated as he was about to take command in 
Virginia : 

Charleston, May 27, 1861. 

My dear : — I sincerely regret leaving Charleston, 

where the inhabitants have given me such a welcome that I now 
consider it as my second home. 

I had hoped that when relieved from here it would have been 
to go to Virginia, in command of the gallant Carolinians, whose 
courage, patience, and zeal I had learned to appreciate and admire. 
But it seems my services are required elsewhere, and thither I shall 
go, not with joy, but with the firm determination to do more than 
my duty, if I can, and to leave as strong a mark as possible on the 
enemies of our beloved country, should they pollute its soil with, 
their dastardly feet. 

But rest assured, my dear sir, that whatever happens at first, 
we are certain to triumph at last, even if we had for arms only pitch- 
forks and fiint-lock muskets^ for every bush and haystack will become 
an ambush, and every barn a fortress. The history of nations 
proves that a gallant and free people, fighting for their indepen- 
dence and firesides, are invincible against even disciplined mercen- 



238 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

aries at a few dollars per month. W7iai then must he the result when 
its enemies are little more than an armed rabble, gathered together hastily, 
on a false pretence, and for an unholy purpose, ivith ati octogenarian 
at its headf None hut the demented can doubt the issue. 

I remain, dear General, yours sincerely, 

P. Gr. T. Beauregard. 

This letter appears grotesque enough in the light of subsequent 
events. But in justice to Gen. Beauregard, and in explanation of 
his apparently inflated words, it must be declared that they did 
nothing more than reflect what was then the judgment of the almost 
universal mind of the South, with reference to the sure and easy 
conclusion of the war in its victory and independence. And herj 
we have the opportunity of introducing an account of one of the 
most curious phenomena of the war — the sudden and entire disap- 
pearance of the Union party in the South on the declaration of 
secession. Immediately before this event, that party had been 
numerous and formidable ; it had a compact organization ; it con- 
tained many men who, from principle and affection, were strongly 
attached to the Union, and who were incapable of changing their 
opinions at the mere bidding of expediency. And yet never did 
a political party more quickly and entirely vanish from the scene 
after an untoward election, than did the Unionists of the South 
after the proclamation of secession. The explanation of this extraor- 
dinary disappearance is to be found not so much in the easy virtue 
of political parties, as in the especial fact of a foregone conclusion, 
which seemed to take possession of the whole mind of the South, 
that the impending conflict would necessarily result in its favour, 
and that the mere declaration of secession was quite as decisive of 
the fate of the Union as would be the last battle of the war. The 
Union party in the South had contended for the Union up to the 
question of secession, and that decided, it considered the controversy 
practically determined, and prepared to accommodate itself to what 
it regarded as the inevitable fact of assured separation. The mass 
of the Southern people, both Secessionists and Unionists, appears 
at this time never to have admitted even the possibility of an over- 
throw of the Southern arms, and defeat of the Confederate cause ; 
and the few minds that did entertain such an event were so few as 
only to constitute the exception which proves the rule. "When the 



GENERAL PETER Q. T. BEAUREGARD. 239 

Union members of the Virginia Convention sobbed at their desks, 
and exchanged tearful sympathies as the vote for secession was 
announced, it was because they deemed that it was all over, and 
that by the mere will of the South the dissolution of the Union 
was irrevocably decreed. It is astonishing how universal and 
supreme was a conviction in the South, which subsequent events 
were so signally to belie. If we are to find an explanation for such 
a delusion, we perhaps need go no further than that popular vanity 
which, embracing for once the intelligent with the vulgar, appears 
to be the common sin of all communities in America. But what- 
ever the cause, there is no doubt that the Southern public was so 
generally assured of the termination of the war in favour of a 
Southern Confederacj^, that the Union party within the limits of 
the seceded States considered that the role of controversy was 
ended, and that nothing was left them but to submit to the fiat, and 
accommodate themselves to the change. Had there been in the 
early periods of the war any considerable doubt in the South of the 
issue of the war, it is more than probable that the Union party 
would have maintained its organization, asserted itself much sooner 
than it did, and seriously disturbed the first years of the gov- 
ernment. 

Gen. Beauregard signalized his taking command at Manassas, 
by a proclamation in which he presumed to declare the real pur- 
poses of the enemy in the war. He declared: "A reckless and 
unprincipled tyrant has invaded your soil. Abraham Lincoln, 
regardless of all moral, legal, and constitutional restraints, has 
thrown his Abolition hosts among j'ou, who are murdering and 
imprisoning your citizens, confiscating and destroying your prop- 
erty, and committing other acts of violence and outrage, too shock- 
ing and revolting to humanity to be enumerated. All rules of 
civilized warfare are abandoned, and they proclaim by their acts, 
if not on their banners, that their war-cry is 'Beauty and Booty.' 
All that is dear to man, your honour, and that of your wives and 
daughters, your fortunes and your lives, are involved in this 
momentous contest." 

We can easily remember the storm of denial and indignant 
protest which this proclamation produced in the Northern news- 
papers. The idea of there being any anti-slavery intention in the 
war was denounced as ridiculous ; and when, a few months later, 



240 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

Gen. Beauregard, in his persistent notion that the war was intended 
to free the negroes, recommended the enemy to be officially 
styled " Abolitionists " instead of " Federals," the New York Times 
hooted him as an idiot. The commentary of the Baltimore Ameri- 
can is refreshing now. That paper wrote: "We cannot avoid 
contrasting with the proclamation of Beauregard the offer of Gen. 
Butler to put down ' servile insurrections ' in his first landing at 
Annapolis, and the subsequent address of Gen. Patterson to the 
Pennsylvania troops, that it might be their duty to ' suppress ser- 
vile insurrections.' Can the people of Virginia be imposed upon 
by such productions as this of Gen. Beauregard's? Can any in- 
telligent community in the South be thus cheated into madness ? 
Surely if they can be, they are to be pitied ; and we have only to 
say that so poor a compliment, paid by any high functionary to the 
intelligence of the people of Maryland, would receive their scorn 
and reprobation." 

This commentary is strange enough in view of the sequel of the 
war ; but certainly the most curious and amusing part of it is that 
which compares, on the score of humane and chivalrous sentiment, 
Gen. Beauregard with the future " tyrant of New Orleans." Never 
was prognostic more completely verified than that of Gen. Beau- 
regard. He had shown a better judgment here than in predicting 
the ultimate success of the South. He appears, indeed, to have been 
the earliest of the Confederate leaders who saw the essential and 
ultimate design of the war, and recognized in it a spirit of spolia- 
tion and revenge, when protestations were most numerous and 
vehement of the kind intentions of the Federal authorities, and the 
government at Washington was making the largest show of con- 
ciliation. Even some of his countrymen thought him violent in 
his denunciations of the enemy, when he was simply in advance 
of the popular mind, in his intelligent estimation of the Federal 
designs upon the South. But we return from these anticipations 
of the war to follow the progress of events. 

On the 20th July, the army under Gen. Beauregard's command 
on the line of Bull Eun, numbered nearly 28,000 men and 49 
guns. A small portion only consisted of cavalry. This force 
included a brigade under the command of Gen. Holmes, brought 
forward from Acquia Creek, a regiment termed Hampton's Legion, 
and about 6,000 men and 20 guns of the vrmy of the Shenandoah, 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 241 

which had all been telegraphed for by Gen. Beauregard when 
he heard of the actual advance of the enemy. The numerical 
strength of the Federal army which marched from the lines 
around Alexandria, Arlington Heights, and Washington, was 
more than fifty thousand men. Such were the forces confronted 
on the first important field of the war. 

The battle of Manassas was perhaps on the side of the Confed- 
erates the least scientific battle of the war. Gen. Beauregard had 
intended to move by his right and centre on the enemy's flank and 
rear ; but his orders miscarried, his plans of action were wholly 
disarranged, and he found himself at last with his left flank turned 
and compelled to fight a battle at right angles with the defensive 
line of Bull Run. The ardour of the troops rather than any merit 
of generalship gained the day for the Confederates, and that, too, 
only after they had been twice driven to the most desperate ex- 
tremity. Once, when on the key-point of the field, the plateau 
near the Henry House, it appeared that the enemy would have 
enveloped the Confederates on both flanks, and Beauregard had 
onlj'- 6,500 men to withstand the onset of 20,000 infantry, he ad- 
dressed his troops in some thrilling and memorable words. " I 
sought," says the General, " to infuse into the hearts of my ofl&cers 
and men the confidence and determined spirit of resistance to this 
wicked invasion of the homes of a free people, which I felt. I in- 
formed them that reinforcements would rapidly come to their sup- 
port, and we must at all hazards hold our posts until reinforced. I 
reminded them that we fought for our homes, our firesides, and for 
the independence of our country. I urged them to the resolution 
of victory or death on the field. These sentiments were loudly, 
eagerly cheered wheresoever proclaimed, and then I felt assured of 
the unconquerable spirit of that army which would enable us to 
wrench victory from the host then threatening us with destruction." 

When the plateau was won, and the crisis of the day had 
arrived. Gen. Beauregard placed himself at the head of his reserves, 
and ordered the line to advance. This was about 2.30 p.m., and 
the reinforcements of Kirby Smith arrived during the movement. 
They took position on the left of the advancing line, and the grand 
advance was made, which swept the enemy from the field, and put 
him in unexampled route. Gen. Beauregard's horse was killed 
under him by the explosion of a shell, but he escaped unhurt. 

16 



242 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

A remarkable fact regarding tbe battle of Manassas was the 
comparatively small portion of the troops actually engaged on both 
sides. With the Confederates this was partially owing to a mis- 
carriage of the orders sent to Holmes and Ewell, and is thus 
adverted to in Gen. Beauregard's orders : — " In connection with, 
the unfortunate casualties of the day — that is, the miscarriage of 
the orders sent by courier to Gens. Holmes and Ewell to attack the 
enemy in flank and reverse at Centreville, through which the tri- 
umph of our arms was prevented from being still more decisive — 
I regard it in place to say, a divisional organization, with officers 
in command of divisions, with appropriate ranks, as in European 
services, would greatly reduce the risks of such mishaps, and 
would advantageously simplify the communications of a General 
in command of a field with his troops." The fact is, that there 
was a want of organization in both armies ; the battle was fought 
in a fragmentary way, and the victory of the Confederater is 
more to be ascribed to their naked valour, the physical fact of 
fighting^ than anything else.* 

* The events of the war were generally celebrated on the Southern side in very 
execrable verse. An exception to the silly and tawdry poetry of the war is the fol- 
lowing lines of Mr. John R. Thompson (of Richmond), on Manassas, an admirable 
union of burlesque and keen satire. They obtained, we believe, the imprmt of the 
English Punch ; anyhow, they are excellent : 

ON TO RICHMOND. 

AFTER SOUTHEY'S "MARCH TO MOSCOW." 

Major-General Scott, 

An order had got. 

To push on the column to Richmond ; 

For loudly went forth, 

From all parts of the North, 
The cry that an end of the war must be made 
In time for the regular yearly Fall Trade. 
Mr. Greeley spoke freely about the delay, 
The Yankees, " to hum," were all hot for the fray. 

The chivalrous Grow 

Declared they were slow, 

And therefore the order 

To march from the border, 

And make an excursion to Richmond. 

Major-General Scott, 
Most Ukely, was not 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 243 

But such criticisms of Manassas belong to the scientific history 
of the war, and scarcely come within the limits of a popular bio- 
graphy of its hero. The South was elated with the victory with- 

Tery loth to obey this instruction, I wot, 

In his private opinion, 

The Ancient Dominion 
Deserved to be pillaged — her sons to be shot, 

And the reason is easily noted : 

Though this part of the earth. 

Had given him birth, 

And medals and swords. 

Inscribed with fine words, 

It never for Winfield had voted. 
Besides, you must know, that our first of commanders 
Had sworn quite as hard as the army in Flanders, 
"With his finest of Armies and proudest of Navies, 
To wreak his old grudge against Jeflerson Davis. 
Then " Forward, the column I " he said to McDowell, 

And the Zouaves, with a shout, 

Most fiercely cried out : 
"To Richmond or h — 11," (I omit here the vowel,) 
And Winfield, he ordered his carriage and four, 
A dashing turn-out, to be brought to the door 
For a pleasant excursion to Richmond- 
Major-General Scott 

Had there on the spot 

A splendid array 

To plunder and slay ; 

In the camp he might boast 

Such a numerous host. 

As he never had yet 

In the battle-field set. 
Every class and condition of Northern society 
"Were in for the trip, a most varied variety ; 
In the camp he might hear every lingo in vogue, 
" The sweet German accent, the rich Irish brogue," 

The beautiful boy. 
From the banks of the Shannon, 

Was there to employ 
His excellent cannon, 
And besides the long files of dragoons and artillery, 

The Zouaves and Hussars, 

All the children of Mars, 

There were barbers and cooks. 

And writers of books — 
The chef de cuisine, with his French bills of fare. 



24-i GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

out reference to questions of skill ; the popular mind had not yet 
become critical of generalship, and the newspapers had not yet 
caught the technical language of the battle-field ; and on the affla- 

And the artists to dress the young ofiScers' hair 
And the scribblers all ready at once to prepare 

An eloquent story 

Of conquest and glory ; 
And servants with numberless baskets of SiUery. 
Though Wilson, the Senator, followed the train 
At a distance quite safe to " conduct the champagne;" 
While the fields were so green, and the sky was so blue, 
There was certainly nothing more pleasant to do 
On this pleasant excursion to Richmond. 

In Congress the talk, as I said, was of action 
To crush out instanter the traitorous faction. 

In the press and the mess, 

They would hear nothing less, 
Than to make the advance, spite of rhyme or of reason, 
And at once put an end to the insolent treason. 

There was Greeley 

And Ely, 
The blood-thirsty Grow, 

And Hickman, the rowdy, (not Hickman, the beau,) 
And that terrible Baker, 
Who would seize on the South — every acre. 
And Webb, who would drive us all into the Gulf, or 
Some nameless locality smelling of sulphur. 

And with all this bold crew 

Nothing would do. 
While the fields were so green, and the sky was so blue, 
But to march on directly to Richmond. 

Then the gallant McDowell 

Drove madly the rowel 
Of spur that had never been " won " by him, 

In the flank of his steed. 

To accomplish a deed, 
Such as never before had been done by him : 

And the battery, called Sherman's, 
Was wheeled into line, 

While the beer-drinking Germans, 
From Neckar and Rhine, 

With Minie and Yager, 

Came on with a swagger. 

Full of fury and lager. 
(The day and the pageant were equally fine), 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 245 

tus of victory Beauregard at once ascended to the first reputation 
of the war. His promotion was made on the field of Manassas, 
and was announced in the following note : 

Oh I the fields were so green, and the sky was so blue, 
Indeed 'twas a spectacle pleasant to view, 

As the column pushed onward to Richmond. 

Ere the march was begun, 

In a spirit of fun, 

G«neral Scott, in a speech, 

Said his army should teach 
The Southrons the lesson the laws to obey ; 
And just before dusk, of the third or fourth day, 
Should joyfully march into Richmond. 

He spoke of their drill. 
Of their courage and skill, 
And declared that the ladies of Richmond would rave 
O'er such matchless perfection, and gracefuUy wave 
In rapture their delicate kerchiefs in air, 
At theu- morning parades on the Capitol Square. 
But alack I and alas I 
Mark what soon came to pass, 
When this army, in spite of his flatteries, 
Amid war's loudest thunder, 
Must stupidly blunder 
Upon those accursed " masked batteries ; " 
There Beauregard came. 
Like a tempest of flame, 
To consume them in wrath, 
On their perilous path : 
And Johnston bore down in a whirlwind to sweep 
Theu- ranks from the field. 
Where their doom had been sealed. 
As the storm rushes over the face of the deep: 
While swift on the centre our President prest, 
And the foe might descry, 
In the glance of his eye. 
The light that once blazed upon Diomed'a crest 

McDowell! McDoweUI weep, weep for the day, 
When the Southrons ye met in their battle ar^ay; 
To your confident host, with its bullets and steel,' 
Twas worse than Culloden to luckless Lochiel I 
Oh I the generals were green, and old Scott ia now blue, 
And a terrible business, McDowell, to you 

Was that pleasant excursion to Richmond. 



24G GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

Manassas, Va., July 21, 1861. 
Sir: — Appreciating your services in the battle of Manassas, 
and on several other occasions during the existing war, as afford- 
ing the highest evidence of your skill as a commander, your gal- 
lantry as a soldier, and your zeal as a patriot, j^ou are promoted to 
be General in the Army of the Confederate States of America, and, 
with the consent of the Congress, will be duly commissioned accord- 
ingly. Yours, etc., 

Jeff. Davis. 

Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard, etc., etc., etc. 

From the testimony of this note it would appear that at this 
time the relations between President Davis and Gen. Beauregard 
were of the most amicable kind, and mutually pleasing. But if 
such were their relations on the field of Manassas, they were not 
long to continue so. This victory brought to Gen. Beauregard 
such an accession of popularity as to alarm the vanity of the Presi- 
dent, who was impatient of rivals in the popular admiration, and 
in the early periods of the war had discovered a conceit to be the 
central military figure as well as the political chief of the war. 
This comprehensive concert was visible throughout the entire 
administration of Mr. Davis ; it was especially shown in his anxiety 
to catch the attention of the world as planner and originator of 
military campaigns, and it carried him to the lengths of a pragmat- 
ical interference with most of his Generals in the field, The truth is 
that Mr. Davis had that unfortunate mind of the ruler which repulses 
from its councils men of spirit and ability, delights to surround 
itself with mediocrity as a safeguard to its vanity, and proceeds 
on the supposition that the feeble will prove the most obedient. 
He was alarmed by exhibitions of fame in which he did not share, 
and the approach of men of merit and of spirit always gave him 
an uneasy notion of rivalry. Gen, Beauregard was the first to 
provoke the unhappy disposition by the sudden ascent of his fame 
after the battle of Manassas. That battle was naturally followed 
by popular endearments of its hero ; the reputation of Beauregard 
was at once seized upon by those alert politicians who nominate 
Presidents several years in advance, and no sooner find a favourite 
of the people than they hasten to name him for the honours of 
party ; and he was accused by the President of a political move- 



GENEEAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 247 

ment against his Administration, in which there is every reason to 
believe he was not only innocently complicated but unconscious 
of any design injurious to Mr. Davis' vanity or ambition. The 
pause of active war that followed Manassas seems to have given 
unusual opportunity for a political controversy. Whatever the 
merits of that controversy, it is not to be denied that from this 
time there commenced to be evident that jealous}- or dislike on the 
part of the Administration towards Gen. Beauregard, which through 
the war tended to cripple his energies and neutralize his best plans 
of campaign. 

The first open occasion of controversy between Gen. Beaure- 
gard and the President appears to have been with reference to 
certain passages in the famous official report of the battle of Ma- 
nassas, in which Mr. Davis conceived that the General had travelled 
out of the record to cast an imputation upon the defensive military 
policy then upheld at Richmond, to the great dissatisfaction of the 
people. For some time he would not allow the report to be printed, 
and with a sensitive alarm denounced it as an attempt to make 
favour with the public at his expense. The subject was even taken 
up in the Congress at Richmond, during a secret session ; the Pres- 
ident having sent Beauregard's report to that body, accompanied 
by comments of his own on some of its preliminary passages. 
The order eventually taken by Congress, however, was to have the 
document published, after expunging the portion referred to, and 
the President's comments thereon. What was the sentiment of 
Gen. Beauregard in the controversy may be judged from the fol- 
lowing letter, printed in a Richmond newspaper : 

CeNTBKVILLE, •within HEARma OP THE ) 

ExEiiY's Guns, Sunday, Nov. 3, 1861. J 
To Editors Richmond Whig : 

Gentlenmen : My attention has just been called to an un- 
fortunate controversy now going on relative to the publication of 
a synopsis of my report of the battle of Manassas. None can 
regret more than I do this, from a knowledge that, by authoity, 
the President is the sole judge of when, and what part of the com- 
manding officer's report shall be made public. I, individually, do 
not object to delaying its publication as long as the War Depart- 
ment thinks proper and necessary for the success of our cause. 



248 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

Meanwhile, I entreat mj friends not to trouble themselves about 
refuting the slanders and calumnies aimed against me. Alcibi- 
ades, on a certain occasion, resorted to an extraordinary method to 
occupy the minds of his traducers — let, then, that synopsis answer 
the same purpose for me in this instance. If certain minds can- 
not understand the difference between patriotism, the highest civic 
virtue, and office-seeking, the lowest civic occupation, I pity them 
from the bottom of my heart. Suffice it to say, that I prefer the 
respect and esteem of my countrymen to the admiration and envy 
of the world. I hope, for the sake of our cause and country, 
to be able, with the assistance of kind Providence, to answer 
my calumniators with new victories over our national enemies ; 
but I have nothing to ask of the country, Government, or any 
friends, except to afford me all the aid they can in the great strug- 
gle we are now engaged upon. I am not either a candidate, nor do I 
desire to he a candidate^ for any civil office in the gift of the peoph or 
Executive. The aim of my ambition, after having cast my mite in 
the defence of our sacred cause, and assisted, to the best of my 
ability, in securing our rights and independence as a nation, is to 
retire to private life, my means then permitting, never again to 
leave my home, unless to fight anew the battles of my country. 
Kespectfully, your most obedient servant, 

P. G. T. Beauregard. 

The statements of this letter were undoubtedly just. But it 
must be confessed that its publication was ill-advised ; that there 
was a theatrical circumstance and tone about it that displeased 
many people ; and that its effect was to aggravate a quarrel which 
was in all respects deplorable, and which did much to scandalize 
the Confederacy. 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 249 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Gren. Beauregard transferred to command in "West Tennessee. — His order about " the 
bells." — He concentrates the Confederate forces at Corinth. — Battle of Shiloh. — A 
"lost opportunity." — Retreat to Tupelo. — He obtains a sick furlough. — President 
Davis deprives him of his command. — OfiBcial persecution of Gen. Beauregard. — 
Violent declarations of the President. — Gea. Beauregard in retirement. — A private 
letter on the war. 

In January, 1862, Gen. Beauregard was ordered to West Ten- 
nessee. After the evacuation of Columbus, he was employed in for- 
tifying Island No. 10, which .was captured four days after he left 
there ; urged as he was, by the rapid and serious movements of 
the Federal troops on the Tennessee River, to take command of the 
forces to oppose the enemy's progress in that direction. 

It was about this time Gen. Beauregard issued his famous order 
about bells to be moulded into cannon — an incident that furnished 
a good deal of poetry in the war. The following was his appeal 
to " the planters of the Mississippi Valley : " 

Headquarters Army op the Mississippi, 
Jackson, Tenk., March 8, 1862. 

More than once a people fighting with an enemy less ruthless 
than yours ; for imperilled rights not more dear and sacred than 
yours ; for homes and a land not more worthy of resolute and uncon- 
querable men than yours ; and for interests of far less magnitude 
than you have now at stake, have not hesitated to melt and mould 
into cannon the precious bells surmounting their houses of God, 
which had called generations to prayer. The priesthood have ever 
sanctioned and consecrated the conversion, in the hour of their na- 
tion's need, as one holy and acceptable in the sight of God. 

We want cannon as greatly as any people who ever, as history 
tells you, melted their church-bells to supply them ; and I, your 
General, intrusted with the command of the army embodied of 
your sons, your kinsmen and your neighbours, do now call on you 
to send your plantation-bells to the nearest railroad depot, subject 



250 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

to my order, to be melted into cannon for the defence of your 
plantations, 

Wi30 will not cheerfully and promptly send me his bells under 
such circumstances ? 

Be of good cheer ; but time is precious.* 

P. G. T. Beauregard, 

General commanding. 

The serious train of Confederate disasters in the West that, 
commencing with Fort Donelson, had opened the Mississippi and 
its tributaries, and carried the war to the Southern bank of the 
Tennessee, was now approaching another crisis. At the sugges- 
tion of Gen. Beauregard, troops were concentrated at Corinth, 
Mississippi. Imbued with a high sense of the cardinal principle 
in war — concentration — a principle illustrated by the military his- 
tory of all wars. Gen. Beauregard sought to swell his inadequate 
force in all possible ways. He called on Gens. Bragg and Lovell 
for their disposable troops. Lovell had already, under orders of 
Gen. A. S. Johnston, detached for Corinth a fine brigade under 
Gen. Euggles, with certain other troops, in all quite 5,000 men, 
choice troops of all arms. Gen, Bragg referred the matter to the 
War Department, by whom positive orders were declined, and the 
responsibility was left to him. He determined to withdraw his 
main force from Pensacola and Mobile, and join Gen. Beauregard, 
which he did in person at Jackson, Tennessee, about the 1st 
March, 1862. 

Gen. Van Dorn, also, was strenuously urged by Gen. Beaure- 
gard to transfer his whole command to the east bank of the Missis- 
sippi, and was already in motion to form the junction before the 
battle of Sliiloh. 

The Governors of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Ten- 
nessee, had also been called on by Gen. Beauregard for 5,000 
men respectively, or as many as could be sent to him, 

Gi'n, Albert Sidney Johnston, whose army was now falling 
back along the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad, was requested 

* The witty Louisville Journal had the following commentary : 
" The rebels can well afford to give up all their church-bells, cow-bells, and dinner- 
bells to Beauregard, for they never go to church now, their cows have been all taken 
by foraging parties, and they have no dinners to be summoned to.' 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 251 

bj Gen. Beauregard to send froward to Corinth one or two of his 
brigades. That judicious commander sent a brigade at once, and 
announced his determination to make a junction, with his whole 
force, at Corinth, which, in the maia, was effected by the last of 
March, 1862. 

The Confederate army here now consisted of — 

1. Gen. Polk's army corps (infantry and artillery), . . 9,136 

2. Gen. Bragg's army corps, consisting of his original com- 

mand from Pensacola and Mobile, and Lovell's quota, 
with the new levies from Louisiana (infantry and 
artillery), 13,589 

3. The Army of Kentucky, now subdivided into Hardee's 

army corps and reserve division, under Breckenridge, 
(infantry and artillery), 13,228 



35,953 
4. Untrained cavalry, distributed with the three corps, . 4,382 



Effectives of all arms, 40,335 

With this force it was determined to advance upon Grant's 
army, which had obtained a position near Pittsburg, and, if possi- 
ble, overwhelm it before it could be reinforced by Buell, who was 
advancing for that purpose by rapid marches from Nashville, by 
the way of Columbus. The plans of the battle were drawn up 
entirely by Gen. Beauregard and approved by Gen. Johnston. The 
action lasted two days, the 6th and 7th April. Gen. Beauregard, 
who wrote his official reports with great animation, has given so 
graphic a description of the conflict, that we readily copy portions 
of it in the general narrative. He says : *' Thirty minutes after 5 
o'clock A.M., our lines and columns were in motion, all animated 
evidently by a promising spirit. The first line was engaged at 
once, but advanced steadily, followed in due order, with equal 
resolution and steadiness, by the other lines, which were brought 
up successively into action, with rare skill, judgment, and gallantry, 
by the several corps commanders, as the enemy made a stand, and 
with his masses rallied for a struggle for his encampments. Like 
an Alpine avalanche our troops moved forward, despite the deter- 
mined resistance of the enemy, until six o'clock P.M., when we 
were in possession of all his encampments between Owl and Lick 



252 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

creeks, but one. Nearly all of his artillery was taken, about thirty 
flags, colours, and standards, over three thousand prisoners, including 
a division commander (Gen. Prentiss) and several brigade command- 
ers, thousands of small-arms, an immense supply of subsistence, for- 
age, and munitions of war, and a large amount of means of trans- 
j)ortatiou — all the substantial fruits of a complete victory. * * * 

" It was after six o'clock in the evening when the enemy's last 
position was carried, and his forces finally broke and sought ref- 
uge behind a commanding eminence, covering the Pittsburg Land- 
ing, not more than half a mile distant, and under the guns of the 
gunboats, which opened on our eager columns a fierce and annoy- 
ing fire with shot and shell of the heaviest description." 

It was here that Gen. Beauregard unfortunately closed the battle 
for the day, and lost, we must confess, the most brilliant opportu- 
nity of his military life. The shattered forces of the enemy were 
within a circuit of less than a mile around Pittsburg Landing. 
There was time to complete the victory ; one effort more, and the 
routed, dispirited, and disorganized mass would have been driven 
into the river. It was known by Gen. Beauregard that Buell was 
in close vicinity, and that in a short time his army would reinforce 
that of Grant. But the last supreme effort to destroy Grant, and 
render the march of Buell futile, was not made. Gen. Beauregard, 
influenced by the disorganized condition of his troops, whom he 
describes as jaded, but eager to gather the spoils of the field already 
won, refrained from attacking, and sent orders to the brigades, 
which were actually preparing in the darkness of the evening for 
one last effort, to withdraw. 

Night accomplished the junction of Buell's forces with Grant, 
and decided Beauregard's lost opportunity. The next day is thus 
described in Gen. Beauregard's official report : " About six o'clock 
on the morning of the 7th April, a hot fire of musketry and artil- 
lery opened from the enemy's quarter on our advanced line, assured 
me of the junction of his forces, and soon the battle raged with a 
fury which satisfied me I was attacked by a largely superiour force 
* * * * Again and again our troops were brought to the charge, 
invariably to win the position at issue, invariably to drive back 
their foe. But hour by hour, thus opposed to an enemy constantly 
reinforced, our ranks were perceptibly thinned under the unceasing, 
withering fire of the enemy ; and by twelve meridian, eighteen 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 253 

hours of hard fighting had sensibly exhausted a large number, my 
last reserves had necessarily been disposed of, and the enemy 
was evidently receiving fresh reinforcements after each repulse* 
Accordingly, about 1 p.m., I determined to withdraw from so 
unequal a conflict, securing such of the results of the victory of the 
day before as was then practicable," On two different occasions 
of this day Gen. Beauregard led the troops flag in hand, and by his 
conspicuous display of devoted courage arrested the tide of battle, 
and enabled his hard-pressed army at last to withdraw in perfect 
order from the field. 

In the battle of Shiloh, Beauregard's forces consisted of 33,000, 
against 87,000 under Grant and Buell. His losses in killed and 
wounded amounted to thirty-three and a-third per cent. — a most 
astounding loss for new troops and raw volunteers. The evening 
of the 7th April found him back behind the rifle-pits of Corinth; 
and there he prepared to defy the immense army collected to crush 
him. Gen. Beauregard was never disposed to acknowledge the 
second day of Shiloh as a defeat. He declares that he retired to 
Corinth "in pursuance of his original design to make that the 
strategic point of his campaign ; " and that he left the field of 
Shiloh on the second day " only after eight hours' successful battle 
with a superiour army of fresh troops, whom we had repulsed in 
every attack upon our lines ; so repulsed and crippled, indeed, as 
to leave it unable to take the field for the campaign for which it 
was collected and equipped at such enormous expense and with 
such profusion of all the appliances of war." 

His subsequent retreat from Corinth to Tupelo, about the end 
of May, 1862, was looked upon by European ofl&cers as a mas- 
terly performance, considering the quality of his troops, and the 
trifling loss attendant upon such a movement, confronted by so 
large a force — there being about 125,000 of the enemy against 
35,000 Confederates. 

About this time the health of Gen. Beauregard was so much 
broken that his physicians insisted upon a period of rest and 
recreation ; and having obtained a sick furlough, he left for 
Montgomery, Alabama, where he arrived on the 17th June, 
accompanied only by his personal staff". Opportunity was taken 
at Eichmond of this sick furlough to give the command of the 
army at Corinth permanently to Gen. Bragg, to deprive Beaure- 



254 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

gard of his well-deserved poet, and to attempt to consign him to 
a term of obscurity, if not of disgrace. This unworthy device at 
Richmond was characteristic of the little circles and conspiracies 
in which the government there was conducted. It was plain that 
Mr. Davis, instead of wisely forgetting the personal differences 
which had grown out of the battle of Manassas, had nursed his 
animosity against Gen. Beauregard, and now aimed a revengeful 
blow in what he thought an opportune moment. 

There is nothing more repulsive in the personal history of 
President Davis' administration than his persistent persecution of 
this distinguished soldier. The severe justice of history must 
pronounce it mean and malignant. We are aware that there is a 
party in the South which constantly deprecates any personal criti- 
cism of the ex-President of the Confederacy, forgetting that Mr. 
Davis was of all public men himself the most profuse of personal 
recriminations, a merciless, inexorable adversary, and that, in a 
recent publication (his " Prison Life "), he is shown to continue his 
own style of personal allusion to those associated with him in the 
late war. When we write history we are compelled to state facts, 
no matter who is hurt by the declaration. The fact of President 
Davis' animosity to Gen. Beauregard was notorious at all times of 
the war. When he took from him the command of the army at 
Corinth, and a committee of Congressmen at Richmond earnestly 
sought his reinstatement, the President passionately replied that 
he would not consent to such a measure, though the whole world 
should urge him to it.* When at last public sentiment wrung 
from Mr. Davis a command of the coast defences for Gen. Beaure- 

* Notes of an interview with the President relative to transferring back General Beauregard 
to the command of Department No. 2. 

Richmond, September 13, 1862. 
General Sparrow and myself this day called on the President and delivered to him 
a petition signed by about fifty members and Senators from the "Western and South- 
western States, in which the restoration of Beauregard to the command of the army, 
now under Bragg, was solicited, it being stated in the petition that it was known that 
Bragg would welcome the restoration of Beauregard. ***** The President 
remarked, that so far as giving Beauregard command of Bragg's army is concerned, 
that was out of the question. Bragg had arranged all his plans, and had co-intelli- 
gence with the Department, with K.irby Smith, and Humphrey Marshall, and to put a 
new commander at the head of the army would be so prejudicial to the public inter- 
ests, he would not do it if the whole world united in the petition. ****** 

(Signed) Ths. J. Semmes. 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 255 

gard, it was not only reluctantly bestowed, but only wben the clam- 
our of the people for a favourite commander had alarmed him, 
or could be no longer tolerated. And when Gen. Beauregard did 
take the new command, it was to find constant disfavour and sus- 
picion at Richmond ; to protest against his requisitions being un- 
filled, and his deprivation of troops ; and to have his remonstrances 
disregarded, filed in obscure bureaux, or indorsed with fretful 
notes of inquiry or exclamation. A bureau officer in the War 
Department testifies : " Every letter Gen. Beauregard sends to the 
Department is sure to put twenty clerks at work in the effort to 
pick flaws in his accuracy of statement." 

In the interval of ill-health, and at a time when a cruel and 
infamous report was circulated in Richmond that Gen. Beauregard 
was losing his powers, and that his sickness verged on insanity^ 
he wrote the following remarkable letter, intended to be private. 
As a just and striking commentary on the growing spirit of the 
war, and on many of the mistaken and short-sighted views then 
prevalent at Richmond, it will interest the reader : 

Bladen, Alabama, Aug. 3, 1862. 

My DEAR General : — I regret much to hear of being 

wounded. I hope he will soon be able to face the Abolitionists. 
In this contest we must triumph or perish ; and the sooner we 
make up our minds to it the better. We now understand the 
hypocritical cry of " Union and the Constitution," which means, 
and always did mean, " spoliation and murder." 

We will yet have to come to proclaiming this war " a war to 
the knife," when no quarter will be asked or granted. I believe 
it is the only thing which can prevent recruiting at the North. 
As to ourselves, I think that very few will not admit that death is 
preferable to dishonour and ruin. 

Our great misfortune is, that we have always relied on foreign 
intervention " and peace in sixty days." No nation will ever 
intervene until it is seen that we can maintain alone our indepen- 
dence ; that is, until we can no longer require assistance. England 
is afraid to admit that she cannot do without our cotton, for then 
she would virtually be in our power. France is unwilling to inter- 
fere, for fear of the treachery of the latter. She always remem- 
bers her as " Za perfide Albion?^ 



256 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

But if France concludes to take Mexico, she will require the 
alliance of the Southern Confederacy to protect her from Northern 
aggression. Nations as well as individuals always consult their 
own interests in any alliance they may form. Hence, our best 
reliance must be in our "stout hearts and strong arms." 

I have been very unwell for several months, but could not rest 
until now. I hope shortly to return to duty, with renewed health 
and vigour. I know not yet to what point I shall be ordered. I 
hope to do something shortly by taking the offensive with a well- 
organized army. However, '■'■Vhomme propose et Dieu dispose;''^ 
hence, I shall go with alacrity wherever I am ordered. 

With kind regards, etc., I remain, yours sincerely, 

P. G. T. Beauregard. 

Gren. Wm. E. Mabtix, Pocotaligo, S. 0. 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 257 



CHAPTER XXIL 

G«n. Beauregard in command at Charleston. — Military importance of "the City of 
Secession." — Gen. Beauregard's appeal to the patriotism of the Carolinians. — Naval 
attack on Charleston, 1863 — Gen. Beauregard's department stripped of troops. — 
Unavailing remonstrance to President Davis. — Gen. Gillmore's attempt on Charles- 
ton. — Its impotent conclusion. — Fame of Gen. Beauregard as an engineer. — He^ 
receives the thanks of Congress. — Returns to Virginia in 1864. — "Battle of the 
Falchion and the Buzzard." — Gen. Beauregard's plan of campaign before the bat- 
tle of Drewry's Bluff. — Remarkable interview with President Davis. — Connection 
of Gen. Beauregard with Hood's campaign. — He advises the evacuation of Rich- 
mond — Merits of Gen. Beauregard's military career. — Description of his person 
and habits. 

In September, 1862, we find Gen. Beauregard taking command 
of the defences of Charleston, which were pronounced by his prede- 
cessor — Gen. Pemberton — no longer tenable. The place, however, 
had as yet been but slightly molested by the enemy ; and the 
friends of Gen. Beauregard were rather disposed to resent the 
appointment to a position, apparently so unimportant, and in any 
event so little likely to be adorned with victory, of one who had 
already distinguished himself in as high places as the Confederate 
army could then afford. But in this respect. Gen. Beauregard was 
" fortune's favourite; " and in looking back upon his memorable 
defence of the "City of Secession," we must declare that no other 
position during the war could have presented like opportunities to 
display what was undoubtedly Gen. Beauregard's speciality — his 
engineering genius. He himself appears to have been well satisfied 
with the appointment to Charleston, and to have anticipated there 
the tremendous conflict of valour and skill which ensued. 

There was a mixed reason, indeed, for a powerful Federal demon- 
stration on Charleston. It was the city most meriting, in the 
Federal eye, the condign punishment due to the nursery of treason 
and rebellion. Military forecast, too, had already observed in 
Charleston a point bound to grow into importance as the war pro- 
gressed. The requirements to the vitality of the body politic of 
the Confederacy made necessary a constant communication between 

17 



258 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

Virginia and the more Southern States of the cis-Mississippi, both 
for concert of action among the troops, and the furnishing of sup- 
plies to the Virginia army. Thus the danger that threatened the 
long line of railroad that traversed Tennessee parallel to the Federal 
line of occupation, and therefore vulnerable at all its points, made 
the defence of the other line through South Carolina, and which 
approached so near to Charleston, at Branchville, an object of the 
most vital interest. This line of railroad was the artery that fur- 
nished life to the troops fed from the granaries of south Georgia, 
and its ultimate destruction in Sherman's march did, as we may 
hereafter see, touch the vitals of the Confederacy. 

In view of the dangers impending on the sea-coast, and particu- 
larly in Charleston — which, in fact, inadequately supplied with 
troops, was open to assault in no less than five different directions 
— Gen. Beauregard issued the following proclamation : 

Headquarters, Dbpartstent of South Carolina, ) 
Georgia and Florida, February 18, 1863. ) 

It has become my solemn duty to inform the authorities and 
citizens of Charleston and Savannah, that the movements of the 
enemy's fleet indicate an early land and naval attack on one or 
both cities, and to urge that persons unable to take an active part 
in the struggle shall retire. 

It is hoped, however, that the temporary separation of some of 
you from your homes will be made without alarm or undue haste, 
thus showing that the only feeling which animates you in this hour 
of supreme trial is the right of being able to participate in the de- 
fence of your homes, your altars, and the graves of your kindred. 

Carolinians and Georgians ! the hour is at hand to prove your 
country's cause. Let all able-bodied men, from the sea-board to 
the mountains, rush to arms. Be not too exacting in the choice 
of weapons. Pikes and scythes will do for exterminating your 
enemies, spades and shovels for protecting your firesides. To arms, 
fellow-citizens ! Come to share with us our danger, our brilliant 
success, our glorious death.* 

P. G. T. Beauregard, Oen. commanding. 

* To this appeal there was but little substantial response in men and material. 
And yet curiously enough in Charleston " the spirit of the women " — a phrase which 
by the way appears to have had but httle real value in the war (sentiment to the 
.contrary), and was too often used to denote a silly nervous transport that quickly 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 259 

The most serious naval demonstration of the enemy was made 
upon Charleston, after an engagement had occurred at Pocotaligo, 
in which Gen. Beauregard was successful ; and, after the attack 
made by Capt. Ingraham on the blockading squadron, in which 
the Mercedita, a Federal steamer, was disabled. On the 7th of 
April, 1863, the long-expected trial between the enemy's iron- 
clads and the forts of Charleston Harbour came on ; and from a 
distance of from nine to twelve hundred yards the Ironsides and 
monitors opened fire on the front of Sumter, and delivered a shock 
as of ten thousand battering-rams, impelled by the arms of Titans. 
The fort stood firm, replying with the angry flashes of its guns ; 
a complete triumph was obtained for the Confederates; and the 
next morning was seen a turret and smoke-stack of the Keokuk, 
the only visible reminder of one of the most powerful vessels of 
the enemy's armada. 

An interval for other preparations elapsed, and the next at- 
tempt upon Charleston followed under Gen. Gillmore. We have 
already hinted at the desperate condition of the city when Gen. 
Beauregard took command. His engineering skill had to be taxed 
to the utmost ; old batteries had to be altered and repaired ; new 
sites had to be selected for other constructions. James and Sulli- 
van's Islands were thoroughly protected ; but Morris Island was 
imperfectly defended from want of labour and necessary materials. 
Other causes of alarm and embarrassment arose ; for a disposition 
was shown at Kichmond to diminish Gen. Beauregard's resources, 
and to strip his district of troops to reinforce Pemberton, at Vicks- 
burg. In vain Gen. Beauregard protested against this disfavour 
to him and risk to the country. On the 16th May, he wrote to 
Richmond, complaining in desperate terms of the movement of so 
many of his troops to Mississippi ; 5,000 on the 5th, and more than 

expired — was so high and extravagant that it burst all bounds of sex, and literally 
offered recruits from its own ranks. A short while before the proclamation referred 
to, the women of Charleston passed the following extraordinary resolution, which, 
prettily as it is written, we must own has something of a comical aspect now : 

" In the daughters of Carolina there are kindred spirits to the ' Maid of Saragossa.' 
If the time for us to act has come, we are ready. "We ask for the best method of 
action — whether to be formed into companies and regiments, or to wait and fill the places 
of our beloved soldiers who fall ! Save our country, our Southern sunny homes, from 
Yankee thraldom, men and fathers. Your daughters hush their timid fearings, and 
would die for their country's freedom." 



260 GENERAL PETEK G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

5,000 on the lOtli instant. He made an exhibit of the forces re- 
maining in South Carolina and Georgia — about 4,000 infantry, 
5,000 cavalry, and 6,000 artillery — some 15,000 in all. He said 
the enemy was still on the coast, in the rivers, and on the islands, 
and might easily cut his communications with Savannah ; and that 
they had sufficient numbers to take Charleston, in all probability, 
without passing the forts. To all these representations President 
Davis was deaf ; and Gen. Beauregard was left with an inadequate 
force, and in the most unequal circumstances, to make one of 
the most desperate defences of the war, to win a victory where 
there was least reason to expect it, and to achieve, despite the con- 
finements of an envious Administration at Richmond, the most 
glorious success of his life. 

The first effort of the enemy was directed to getting possession of 
the islands, on which to plant batteries controlling the city and har- 
bour, under whose protection the gunboats were to advance to the 
capture of the city. An unsuccessful effort was made to carry Fort 
Wagner by storm, after effecting a landing on Morris Island ; the trial 
was renewed on the 18th August, 1863, and followed by a terrific 
night attack,- which resulted in a loss of over 1,500 Federal troops. 
The fort was not evacuated until the 6th of September, having been 
held all this time under Beauregard's orders, while he hastened to 
complete other worlds, whose effect completelj^ neutralized all bene- 
fits the Federals had expected to enjoy in the occu])ation of Morris 
Island. The retention of this island by Gen. Beauregard for the 
space of two months, and with a force of about 1,200 men against 
about twelve thousand, was one of the most heroic and critical 
incidents of the struggle; the delay enabling him to construct 
interiour works for the defence of Charleston. In the interval, on 
the 21st August, Gillmore had demanded the evacuation of Forts 
Wagner and Sumter, threatening the destruction of Charleston if 
the demand was not complied with, and the following night the 
bombardment of Charleston proper commmenced. Gen. Gillmore, 
having dispatched to the authorities at Washington that "Fort 
Sumter was a shapeless, harmless mass of ruins," but one idea 
prevailed — that Charleston was already reduced. A summons to 
Fort Sumter, Maj. Stephen Elliot commanding, on the part of 
Admiral Dahlgren, not being acceded to, an attack under Com- 
mander Stevens, was directed against it at midnight of the 8th 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 261 

of September. It was completely frustrated ; and the " mass of 
ruins " frowned defiantly in greater strength than in the days of the 
comeliest symmetry of this historic fort. It decided the safety of 
Charleston, and stood the faithful guardian of the city, and the 
defiant herald of Beauregard's engineering fame.* 

The defence of Charleston constitutes undoubtedly the hap- 
piest and most brilliant page in th6 life of Gen. Beauregard. It 
was his most successful service in the war, and gave him his 
greatest name in the world's estimation. Of this defence it has 
been said : " It developed and called forth such engineering skill, 
that to-day the world discusses the merits of the two who have 
distanced all others in engineering science — Beauregard and Tod- 
leben, of Russia — and hesitates to award to either the palm." 

The thanks of the Confederate Congress rendered to Gen. Beau- 
regard for his services at Charleston were conveyed in resolutions 
of more than usual import. It was unanimously voted that he had 
accomplished an unparalleled and glorious work ; and the following 
resolution assured him in uncommon terms of the appreciation of 
his countrymen : 

* It is partly amusing now to look back upon the confidence with which the 
North had anticipated the fall of Charleston, or delighted itself with visions of the 
hateful city being devoured by the " infernal fires " of Gillmore's new and wonderful 
ordnance. The event so surely hoped for was gaily commented on in the journals, and 
furuished a fund of caricature for the pictorials, which were already drawing on their 
imaginations for the final scenes of the rebellion. A gentleman who visited Gen. 
Beauregard during the siege of Charleston, says : " A caricature hi a New York illus- 
trated paper, wherein President Davis and Gen. Beauregard were depicted shoeless 
and in rags, contemplating a pair of boots, which the latter suggested had better be 
eaten, excited considerable amusement when shown to bim and a party, at an excel- 
lent dinner one day." 

In another of the pictorials was a brutal and devilish device — a picture represent- 
ing Gen. Beauregard watering his Iwrse in hell. It was engraved after one of the 
numerous Federal reports of the death of the hero whom the North seemed to hate 
above all others in the Confederacy. 

To tills fund of the enemy's amusement in the siege of Charleston, we shall only 
add the following : 

BEADRBGAED AND GILLMOEB. 

At midnight, in his blackguard tent, 
" Old Beau " was dreaming of the hour 
When GOlmore, like a suppliant bent, 
Should tremble at his power ; 



262 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

" Resolved^ That the thanks of Congress are eminently due, and 
are hereby cordially tendered to Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard and the 
officers and men of his command, for their gallantry and successful 
defence of the city of Charleston, S. C. — a defence which, for the 
skill, heroism, and tenacity displayed by the defenders during an 
attack scarcely paralled in warfare, whether we consider the per- 
sistent efforts of the enemy, or his boundless resources in the most 
improved and formidable artillery and the most powerful engines 
of war hitherto known, is justly entitled to be pronounced 'glo- 
rious ' by impartial history and an admiring country." 

Charleston having proved impregnable, public opinion forced 
the Administration to employ Gen. Beauregard on another field of 
usefulness. It created a new command for him which extended 
from Virginia to Florida ; a command vast indeed, in extent, but 
almost without the presence of an army or an enemy, and afford- 
ing but scant and unimportant operations. From this command 
Gen. Beauregard was summoned to take part in the great campaign 
of 1864, in Virginia. 

Notwithstanding the warnings of Gen. Beauregard, the ap- 
proaches to Eichmond and Petersburg were left unprotected ; and 
Gen. Butler landed at Bermuda Hundred with about 85,000 men. 
By a telegraphic dispatch Gen. Beauregard, who was then at Wei- 

In dreams, through camp and street he bore 
The trophies of a conqueror. 

He sported Gillmore's gold-laced hat — 
His red-topped boots, his gray cravat, 
As wild his fancy as a bat, 

Or "any other bird." 
An hour passed on — " Old Beau" awoke, 
Half strangled by a villainous smoke, 
Enough the very devil to choke. 
While all around the " stink-pots " broke 
And bUnded him with smoke. 
He cursed the villainous compound, 
While stunk the pole-cats far around ; 
Then roared with wild, demoniac shriek : 
" Lord ! what a stink 1 the Greek I the Greek I 
Put out this villainous Greek lire 1 
Or in the last red ditch expire. 
'Tis sweet to draw one's dying breath 
For one's dear land, as Horace saith. 
But dreadful to be stunk to death." — Nashville Union. 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 263 

don, North Carolina, was ordered immediately to arrest tlie pro- 
gress of Butler. With what troops he could collect around Peters- 
burg, he repulsed the attack and saved the city. 

Establishing his headquarters at Drewry's Bluff, Gen. Beaure- 
gard hastily organized an army out of the heterogeneous materials. 
Inflamed with the knowledge that he had in his front the man who 
had inflicted such cruelties and such indignities on his much-loved 
home, he matured a plan of battle in an instant, struck Butler in 
the front, and achieved a brilliant victory. The Eichmond Exam- 
iner entitled it " the battle of the falchion and the buzzard." With 
15,000 men. Gen. Beauregard defeated Butler and 30,000 men of 
his army ; drove them back in disorder to Bermuda Hundred ; 
and it is said that if one of his Generals — Whiting — had carried 
out the plan of attack, but few of Butler's men would have reach- 
ed the place of shelter. As it was, " the Army of the James " 
was neutralized, and remained " an army of observation." Four- 
teen hundred prisoners were taken and five pieces of artillery ; and 
Butler was hemmed by the Confederate lines, which were since, 
from time to time, advanced after every skirmish, until they com- 
pletely covered the Southern communications of the capital, thus 
securing one of the principal objects of the attack. The hesitation 
of the Confederate left wing, and the premature halt of the Peters- 
burg column, saved the enemy from greater disaster, and took place, 
as Gen. Beauregard officially reported, " before obstacles, in nei- 
ther case sufficient to have deterred from the execution of the 
movements prescribed." 

Drewry's Bluff' was a valuable victory. But just before this 
action. Gen. Beauregard had proposed something much grander 
and more decisive in the Virginia campaign. He had represented 
to the authorities at Eichmond that with the force at his command 
he could scarcely do more than obtain the colour of victory ; and 
he had proposed, if ten or fifteen thousand men were furnished 
him from Gen. Lee's lines, to assemble a force that would crush 
Butler, and, annihilating him, instead of merely driving him back, 
would then be in instant readiness to move upon Grant's flank, 
while Gen. Lee made an attack in front, and to finish the campaign 
by a grand stroke of arms. The plan of action was communicated 
to Gen. Bragg, at the time exercising a species of general command, 
and acting as " military adviser " of President Davis. It impressed 



264: GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

Bragg so deeply that he persuaded the President to visit the head- 
quarters of Gen. Beauregard, and to receive his views in person. 
Mr. Davis made the concession of this unusual interview. 

In order that there might be no imperfect or interested version 
of his plan, Gen. Beauregard had made the following precise mem- 
orandum of it: — 

Headquabteks Department K C. and S. Va., 

Drewry's Bluff, May 14, 1864. 

General Braxton Bragg^ Commanding- General: 

General: — Considering the vital importance of the issue in- 
volved, and resting upon the success of the plan suggested to you 
this morning, I have deemed it desirable and appropriate that 
its substance should be briefly communicated in writing, as 
follows : — 

Gen. Lee's army at Guinea Station, and my command at this 
place, are on nearly a right line passing through Richmond, Grant's 
army being on the left flank, and Butler's on the right ; our lines 
are thus interiour. 

Butler's aim is unquestionably to invest and turn Drewry's Bluff, 
threatening and holding the Petersburg and Danville Railroads, 
opening the obstructions in the river at Fort Drewry for the passage 
of war-vessels, necessitating then the retreat of Gen. Lee to the 
lines about Richmond. With the railroads held by the enemy, 
Grant in front and Butler in rear of the works around Richmond, 
the capital would be practically invested, and the issue may well 
be dreaded. 

The plan suggested is, that Gen, Lee should fall back to the 
defensive lines of the Chickahominy, even to the intermediate lines 
of Richmond, sending temporarily to this place 15,000 men of his 
troops; immediately upon that accession to my present force, I 
would take the offensive, and attack Butler vigorously. Such a 
move, properly made, would throw me directly upon Butler's com- 
munications, and (as he now stands) on his right flank, well towards 
the rear; General Whiting should also move simultaneously. But- 
ler must then be necessarily crushed or captured, and all the stores 
of that army would fall into our hands; an amount probably that 
would make an interruption into our communications, for a period 
of a few days, a matter of no serious inconvenience. 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 265 

The proposed attack should be accomplished in two days at 
furthest, after receiving my reinforcements ; this done, I would 
move with 10,000 more men to the assistance of Gen. Lee than I 
received from him, and Grant's fate would not long remain 
doubtful. 

The destruction of Grant's forces would open the way for the 
recovery of most of our lost territory, as already submitted to you 
in general terms. 

Eespectfully, etc., 

P. G. T. Beauregard. 

Gen. Beauregard had judged that with the reinforcement named 
in this memorandum he could surprise the army of Butler, destroy 
it, and then, with Gen. Lee's cooperation, overthrow Grant, and 
march quickly on Washington, which was defenceless. It was a 
surprise elevated to a decisive battle ; it failed entirely from lack 
of promptitude in the execution. The persistence of Beauregard 
in desiring a reinforcement compelled President Davis to visit him, 
to listen to his plan. That was one day lost already. Mr. Davis 
was immovable; he did not want to give the 15,000 men; he 
refused. " Remember," said Beauregard to him, " that we are 
now playing the last act of our drama, on which the curtain will 
soon fall ; let the pla}'' at least end gloriously for us ! Eemember, 
also, that I am certain of success, for I have staked everything in 
this last grand effort — my life and my reputation." One must 
know the modesty, recall the courage and military genius of Beau- 
regard to understand that when he said '*! am certain of success," 
it was because he ivas certain of it. President Davis was moved ; 
but his obstinacy continued ; he refused the reinforcement. The 
result was the lingering and fatal campaign of 1861:. Months after 
the close of the war. Gen. Beauregard, repeating to a friend his 
plan of action, adhered to the belief that it would have broken to 
pieces the enemy's combination against Richmond ; and, with the 
light of conviction in his eyes, he said : " Yes, I was certain of 
success." 

On the 3d October, 1864, Gen. Beauregard was assigned to 
the 7iominal command of two military departments and the troops 
therein, known as the Department of Tennessee and Georgia, and 
the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana. He 



266 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

immediately proceeded to the West, joined Hood's army, and then 
issued an earnest appeal to the people to come forward, with 
renewed efforts, to drive the enemy from the South. 

In this, his last field of service. Gen. Beauregard was unfortun- 
ate; his name was connected with Hood's great disaster, and he 
shared some of the responsibility of that ill-starred campaign that 
brought the fortunes of the Confederacy to the last extremity. 
This responsibility is not clearly defined ; for in President Davis 
singular fondness for equivocal military commands. Gen. Beaure- 
gard's position was not so much that of a General in the field, as a 
sort of military director, having no power to take direct controul 
of either Hood's or Taylor's armies. Whether or not he might 
have assumed to countermand Hood's unfortunate campaign into 
Middle Tennessee, it is certain that he declined doing so when, on 
arriving at Augusta, Ga., on the 6th December, he found that 
Sherman had 275 miles the start, and the roads were impracticable 
in Northern Georgia and Alabama. But he telegraphed the 
Governors of Alabama, Georgia, and other States, to concentrate 
troops rapidly in Sherman's front, ordered a brigade of cavalry 
from Hood to Wheeler, and supposed some 30,000 men could be 
collected to oppose Sherman's march, and destroy him. The 
result shows that he was mistaken ; that the volunteer assistance 
he had hoped for could not be aroused in the demoralized state of 
the country ; that the inadequate forces in the enemy's front could 
not arrest that march to the sea, which was ultimately decisive 
of the fate of Savannah and Charleston, and was at last only in- 
effectually impeded in the forests of North Carolina. 

Whilst acting in this State under the command of Johnston, 
Gen. Beauregard proposed a plan of campaign to foil Sherman, by 
concentrating all the disposable Confederate forces at Fayetteville, 
and making a decisive battle there. The advice was in accord with 
Gen. Johnston's favourite and masterly policy of "concentration ; " 
but the junction of Schofield with Sherman gave the enemy such 
overwhelming odds as to put a single decisive battle out of the 
question. In this last emergency. Gen. Beauregard advised the 
immediate evacuation of Kichmond, and wrote to Gen. Johnston : 
" I can see no other means of preventing the complete attainment 
of the main object of Sherman's campaign than by the prompt 
evacuation of our lines at Petersburg, and the occupation of those 



GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 267 

prepared for such an emergency around Richmond, and by detach- 
ing 25,000 men to unite with the force already in North Carolina, 
and give immediate battle to Sherman, which could be done with 
almost certain decisive success. After which the whole army should 
be hastened back to Virginia to raise the siege of Richmond." How 
such a movement would have resulted, is left entirely to the im- 
agination; and whether it was practicable, at the time of its 
recommendation, is a subject of additional doubt. 

The surrender of the different armies of the Confederacy in 
April, 1865, brought back Gen. Beauregard, who was then with 
Gen. Johnston at Greensboro, North Carolina, to his native State. 
It appeared now to be the concurrent decision of the great leaders 
of the Southern armies, finding little room for themselves in the 
political world, to retire from the arena of public life, and devote 
those abilities which shone so brightly on the battle-field, and so 
steadily in the council chamber, to educational or commercial pur- 
suits. Actuated by this sentiment, Gen, Beauregard has sought 
a new business, and is, at present, President of the New Orleans, 
Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad Company, attending faith- 
fully and cheerfully to his new duties and responsibilities. Recently 
he went on a purely commercial tour to Europe, where he was 
received with great courtesy and distinction by all classes in 
England and France.* 

* One of the journals of Paris contained an interesting notice of Gen. Beauregard, 
while in that capital, his person, career, etc., from which we extract the following 
brief notices : — 

" I have rarely experienced, in taking the hand of a soldier, the pleasure which 
I felt on pressing that of Gen. Beauregard, at the time when the Grand Hotel had 
the pleasure for two days of numbering him among the illustrious guests which 
it entertained. * * * * xhe question here is neither one of politics, uor of war, nor 
yet of the American question — North or South. It is a question only of one of tho 
most sympatlietic pihysiognomies ; of one of those illustrations which we cannot lot 
pass through Paris, without giving the profile, at least, to our readers. 

" First of all we do not forget that Gen. Gastave Toutant de Beauregard is of a 
family originating with De la Rochelle. Besides, the fact of his name being French (as 
weh as his character and mind, which are of our country) has not the less contributed 
to draw a very sjTnpathetic attention towards him on this side of the Atlantic, during 
the continuation of the American war. He was one of that trio of men, respected and 
admired in Europe, even by their enemies, and in whose hands was held the military 
destiny of the Confederacy. The other two, as is known, were Jackson — surnamed 
wliile under fire ' Stonewall ' — and Gen. Lee. 

"Beauregard is stQl young; he was born in Louisiana, in 1818. Physically he 



268 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

Remarking on the merits of Gen, Beauregard's military life, a 
Southern journal has offered a criticism so acute and just, that we 
adopt it in the language of the accomplished writer : " In one 
quality of a great General he was without compeer. We mean 
in the indescribable magnetic influence which a i'ew men appear to 
have wielded over large masses. Wellington did not possess it, 
nor Marlborough, nor indeed we believe did Gen. Lee. Their 
troops had great, indeed unbounded confidence in them, but it 
seems to have been confidence which grew out of trial and ripened 

scarcely appears as old as he really is, notwithstanding the fatigues of a war where 
the responsibilities to be borne were as weighty as the dangers to be faced were 
great. He is above the medium height, slender, has an elegant deportment, is very 
gentlemanly, and has a decidedly French figure. His complexion is bronzed by ex- 
posure in the southern latitudes of America; his nose is long and shapely; his eye 
large and piercing ; his look commanding. He wears a short moustache, partially 
grav, and also a small imperial. His extreme modesty, his gentleness of tone, and 
his simplicity of manner, cannot entirely conceal the soldier I 

" I have said that Gen. Beauregard was French in character and mind ; it seemed 
impossible for him in his American guise to forget his original country. One of his 
aides. Col. Lamar, told me that on his return to the General, after a voyage to France, 
he (Col. L.) had related to him the words of sympatliy expressed in his honour in the 
ranks of our army, and that the General had wept for joy. One day on the heights of 
Charleston, Gen. Beauregard was pensively gazing towards the sea. ' You are think- 
ing of France, General I ' said Col. Lamar to him. ' Yes, I am thinking of France. AJh I 
if she knew for what a cause we fought, she would come to our assistance 1 For she 
believes that I am fighting for the maintenance of slavery, whilst I would willingly 
see in our ranks all the blacks of the South, defending with us the Uberty of our 
territory.' 

" This opinion, decidedly against the support of slavery, was confirmed by the 
General to me, and it must not be forgotten that it was he who in connection with 
Gen. Lee, proposed arming the blacks. Too late a measure ! 

************* 

" When I said that his name and his person inspired a lively sympathy, I found 
the proof of it in the crowd which filled the hall leading to the modest parlour occu- 
pied by the General at the Grand Hotel. Such demonstrations, entirely novel to him, 
surprised and troubled him. 

" One final illustration, which shows that at no pomt certain passions cease in the 
heart of man. This morning, as I communicated to Gen. Beauregard the dispatches 
which had arrived from Italy, said he, ' Ah 1 the Italians aro very happy in having 
still something to fight for.' 

•' I saw by a sigh, and by a movement of the head, that he was very willing to 
add, ' If they only wanted me in their ranks 1 ' 

" It is pleasant to know, that by his mother, Gen. Beauregard has Tuscan blood 
in his veins. 



GENERAL PETEE G. T. BEAUREGARD. 2f39 

through success. But Beauregard was beloved of every army he 
commanded from the day he assumed the baton, and we are confident 
that to the last day of its organization, the grand Army of North- 
ern Virginia would have greeted his presence among them with 
shouts of joy and demonstrations of wild affection, which no other 
living man could elicit. Napoleon possessed this quality in a strik- 
ing degree ; Stonewall Jackson possessed it to a great extent. 
Amongst the Federal generals we think Gen. Sherman exhibited 
more evidence of it than any other, unless perhaps Gen. McClellan. 
But for Beauregard, whether he commanded on the banks of the 
Tennessee, in the dreary sand-hills of Corinth, in the much bom- 
barded city of the sea, or in the well defended lines which looked 
on classic Potomac, his troops ever showed the greatest enthusiasm, 
the most ardent affection." 

Among the Confederate Generals, the Eichmond Examiner des- 
ignated Gen. Beauregard by the Latin title of " Felixy not in the 
common school translation of happy or fortunate man, but in its 
true classical meaning, as denoting that rare and well-tempered 
combination of qualities that conciliates fortune, makes easy and 
graceful conquests of life, wins men, and obtains equal measures of 
human ambition in power and in love. In this sense the desig- 
nation was characteristic, and a neat use of the Latin language. 

The person of Gen. Beauregard is familiar to the public in pho- 
tographs, which generally do justice to strongly marked features, 
and especially to an expression so settled as that which the face of 
the General wears. It is indeed the fixed and precise expression of 
the military man, with a figure small, but the beau-ideal of a per- 
fect soldier. He is five feet seven and a half inches high, weighs 
about one hundred and fifty pounds ; is well proportioned, com- 
pactly put up, and is erect and quick in his movements. Those who 
know him well declare that he is one of the strongest and most active 
men of his weight in the country. His eyes are dark brown, 
nearly black. His hair was of the same colour, but is now gray. 
His health was not generally good since the second year of the 
war. It was so bad towards the end of the siege of Charleston as 
almost to unfit him for duty ; but his great energy and persever- 
ance enabled him to remain in command until the surrender at 
Greensboro. In manners Gen. Beauregard is kind and generous 
to those around him ; but he is uncompromising where a duty has 



270 GENERAL PETER G. T. BEAUREGARD. 

to be performed bj himself or others. "We have already observed 
that he ruled his armies more through the affection and enthusiasm 
his presence created, than by the severities of military discipline. 
But he always exacted implicit obedience from those whom he 
commanded, and he was the first to show the example of that obe- 
dience to those whom the country had placed in a position to com- 
mand him. His staff was so attached to him that although to' be 
a member of it was to relinquish all hopes of promotion (on ac- 
count of the animosity of President Davis), yet all through the four 
years' war, not one officer voluntarily retired from it. He was well 
served by all immediately around him, for he was served from love. 
In his habits he was a model for the school of abstemiousness, re- 
jecting all stimulants, drinking neither tea nor coffee, and an ex- 
ception in the Southern army, to the extent that he used tobacco 
in no shape whatever. 



GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Remarkable career of Albert Sidney Johnston. — He eludes the Federal authorities in 
California. — Declares for the Southern Confeaeracy, and " annexes " Arizona, — 
In command of the "Western armies. — Picture of a hero. — Proclamation on the 
occupation of Kentucky. — Foolish exaltation of Southern hopes. — True situ- 
ation of Gen. Johnston. — His noble silence in the face of clamour. — Letter on the 
fall of Fort Donelson. — A glance at the "Western map of the war. — The Confed- 
erate Une broken and the campaign transferred to the southern bank of the Ten- 
nessee river. — Battle of Shiloh. — Gen. Johnston riding on to victory.— His death- 
wound.— Lamentations in the South.— Tributes to his memory. — A classic in- 
scription. 

In" the annals of America, anteriour to the war, the name of 
Albert Sidney Johnston belonged both to history and romance, 
and shared equally the page of great national events and that of 
remarkable personal adventure. His life had been passed not only 
in camps, but in exploring the wilderness, in founding new homes, 
in pursuing the excitements of new countries, and running there 
the career from the humble individual to the high state official, 
commanding honours "won by spirit and perseverance. 

He was born in Mason County, Kentucky, in 1803, and ob- 
tained a literary education at Transylvania University in that 
State. He graduated at West Point in 1826, standing eight in his 
class ; was commissioned as lieutenant of infantry, served in the 
Black Hawk war with distinction, resigned, and settled in Texas 
in 1836. 

At this time Texas was struggling for her independence, and the 
battle of San Jacinto had been fought. Johnston, who appears to 
have emigrated here with the ambitious resolution to make his mark 
in a new country, seized the first opportunity of action, and entered 
the Texan army as a private soldier, enlisting in the division of 
Gen. Rusk. His merit soon raised him from the ranks, and he was 



273 GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 

ultimately appointed senior Brigadier-General, and succeeded Gen. 
Houston in the command of the Texan army. This promotion 
was not without the accident of jealousy, and became the occasion 
of a duel with Gen. Houston, in which Johnston was wounded. 

In 1886, Johnston was appointed Texan Secretary of War, and 
in 1839 organized an expedition against the hostile Cherokees, 
in which he routed them completely in a battle on the river Neches. 
He warmly advocated the annexation of Texas to the United 
States, and after this union was effected he took part in the Mexi- 
can War. 

Here his services were distinguished, especially at the siege of 
Monterey, where he had three horses shot under him, and obtained 
the especial thanks of Gen, Butler, to whom he was acting as aide 
and inspector-general. In October, 1849, he was appointed pay- 
master by President Taylor, with the rank of major, and, upon 
the passage of the act of Congress authorizing the raising of ad- 
ditional regiments in the army, he was appointed colonel of the 
Second Cavalry. In the latter part of 1857, he received the com- 
mand of the United States forces sent to coerce the Mormons into 
obedience to the Federal authority, and conducted the expedition 
in safety to Great Salt Lake City, after enduring great suffering in 
the mountains. 

The commencement of the war found him in command of the 
department of the Pacific; and having determined to espouse the 
cause of the Confederacy, he resigned his position in the army of 
the United States, and made instant preparations to elude the 
watch set upon him, and make his way to the Atlantic sea-board. 
With a few companions, he chose the overland route, by the way 
of Arizona. The little party, consisting of twenty -three citizens of 
California, and seven officers lately resigned from the Federal ser- 
vice, mounted on mules, arrived at Mesilla on the 21st July, 1861. 
Here Gen. Johnston found the Federal authority in the Territory 
substantially destroyed, and perceiving that nearly all the people 
were Southern in origin and sympathies, he took counsel with their 
leaders and determined to declare Arizona a territory of the 
Confederate States. On the 1st August, 1861, Col. Baylor, as 
military commandant, issued his proclamation, erecting a terri- 
torial government, with executive and judicial officers, and declar- 
ing the territory, until otherwise decreed, to consist of all of New 



GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 273 

Mexico south of the thirty-fourth parallel of latitude, within which, 
limits the local laws then in force should continue until changed 
by act of the Confederate Congress. 

Having completed, as he hoped, an act aggrandizing the new 
government to whose service he was hastening, Gen. Johnston 
resumed his journey, and passing through New Orleans, reached 
Richmond on the 2d September. Here he was visited by many 
who knew and admired him. The fame of his military abilities 
was popular and had preceded him ; his thoughtful and intellectual 
face and commanding person obtained for him at once the respect 
and confidence of all who saw him ; and his arrival at Richmond 
was an occasion of jubilation, in which the people saw an addition 
to the Confederate roll of distinguished generalship, and delighted 
themselves with the prospect of a new effulgence of their arms 
in districts which had not yet yielded much of Southern glory. 
The new commander was commissioned a full General, and was 
promptly appointed, by President Davis, to the command of the 
Department of Kentucky and Tennessee, and, without delay, 
repaired to the scene of his duties. 

In an army of volunteers the personal appearance of the com- 
mander is an important element in obtaining the admiration and 
confidence of the troops ; and, indeed, in the military life, this cir- 
cumstance appears to be of much more consequence in the people's 
eyes than in other professions and careers. In this regard. Gen. 
A. S. Johnston was fortunate, and filled all that the popular 
imagination could require in the picture of a hero. He was more 
than six feet high, of a large and sinewy frame, in the vigour of 
manhood, about sixty years of age. His countenance was grave, 
dignified and commanding, indicating serious thought, but without 
a sign of austerity upon. it. His features were strongly marked, 
showing the Scottish lineage, and denoted great resolution and 
composure of character. His complexion, naturally fair, was, from 
exposure, a deep brown. His manner was courteous, but rather 
grave and silent. The whole expression was at once grand and 
pleasing; and it was often said of him, that he looked like one 
" born to command." No man had ever more devoted, enthusiastic 
friends, serving him from affection, ceaseless in praising him, hold- 
ing it an honour to be by his side, and ready to die for him in anv 
cause. It is only a strong nature that wins such friends. 

18 



274 GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 

On assuming command and establishing himself at Bowling- 
Green, Gen, Johnston issued the following proclamation, explain- 
ing the much vexed question of the occupation of Kentucky by 
Confederate forces : 

" Whereas, the armed occupation of a part of Kentucky by the 
United States, and the preparations which manifest the intention 
of their Government to invade the Confederate States through that 
territor}'-, have imposed it on these last, as a necessity of self-de- 
fence, to enter that State and meet the invasion upon the best line 
for military operations; and, whereas, it is proper that the motives 
of the Government of the Confederate States in taking this step 
should be fully known to the world ; now, therefore, T, Albert S. 
Johnston, General and Commander of the Western Department of 
the Army of the Confederate States of America, do proclaim that 
these States have thus marched their troops into Kentucky with no 
hostile intention towards its people, nor do they desire or seek to 
control their choice in regard to their nnion with either of the con- 
federacies, or to subjugate their State, or hold its soil against 
their wishes. On the contrary, they deem it to be the right of the 
people of Kentucky to determine their own position in regard to 
the belligerents. It is for them to say whether they will join 
either the Confederacy, or maintain a separate existence as an inde- 
pendent sovereign State. The armed occupation of their soil, both 
as to its extent and duration, will, therefore, be strictly limited to 
the exigencies of self defence on the part of the Confederate States. 
These States intend to conform to all the requirements of public 
law and international amity as between themselves and Kentucky, 
and, accordingly, I hereby command all who are subject to my 
orders to pay entire respect to the rights of property and the legal 
authorities within that State, so far as the same may be compatible 
with the necessities of self-defence. If it be the desire of the 
people of Kentucky to maintain a strict and impartial neutrality, 
then the effort to drive out tlie lawless intruders, who seek to make 
their State the theatre of war, will aid them in the attainment of 
their wishes. If, as it may not be unreasonable to sujipose, these 
people desire to unite their fortunes with the Confederate States, to 
whom they are already bound by so many ties of interest, then the 
.appearance and aid of Confederate troops will assist them to make 



GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 275 

an opportunity for the free and unbiased expression of their will 
upon the subject. But if it be true, which is not to be presumed, 
that a majority of those people desire to adhere to the United 
States, and become parties to the war, then none can doubt the 
right of the other belligerent to meet that war whenever and 
wherever it may be waged. But, harbouring no such suspicion, I 
now declare, in the name of the Government which I serve, that 
its army will be withdrawn from Kentucky so soon as there shall 
be satisfactory evidence of the existence and execution of a like in- 
tention on the part of the United States. 

By order of the President of the Confederate States of America. 

A. S. Johnston, 
General, commanding the Western Department of the Army 
of the Confederate States of America. 

It was easy to see that a collision of arms must soon occur in 
Gen. Johnston's department ; and the popular expectation of great 
victories there would have been very much dampened, had the 
people known the real situation of affairs. He had but little over 
twenty thousand troops, when it was generally supposed that he 
commanded an army of a hundred thousand men, and would soon 
be marching to Cincinnati, and fulfilling the cherished popular 
hope of an invasion of Northern territory. This exaltation of 
Southern hope was foolish and characteristic; and Gen. Johnston 
knew well enough, while he could not communicate his information 
to the public, and moderate the vulgar expectation, that his con- 
dition was desperate in the extreme, and that the enemy had the 
most formidable advantages, not only in numbers and resources, 
but in superiour organization and drill. Buell was not far from him, 
in a position of immense strength, with an army said to be 50,000 
strong. In his rear was the Cumberland River, liable to rise at any 
moment, and to admit the largest class steamers as high as Nashville. 
Then there was the Tennessee, traversing the entire State, and 
capable of passing gunboats to Alabama ; while, at the mouth of 
both these rivers, at Paducah and Smithfield, the enemy was col- 
lecting an enormous force, both naval and military. The army 
with which Gen. Johnston had to encounter these immense prepara- 
tions, was both inadequate and raw. In October, he wrote to the 
War Department: "We have received but little accession to our 



276 GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 

ranks since the Confederate forces crossed the line — in fact, no such 
enthusiastic demonstration as to justify any movements not war- 
ranted by our ability to maintain our own communications." He 
repeatedly called upon the government for reinforcements. He 
made a call upon several States of the Southwest, including Ten- 
nessee, for large numbers of troops. The cull was revoked at the 
instance of the authorities in Eichmond, who declined to furnish 
twelve months' volunteers with arms ; and here was another 
instance of petty objections at Richmond, in an exigency that surely 
required action, without reference to those forms and routine in 
which the government chose, to the last, to administer its military 
service. 

Gen. Johnston was forced to silence before the public. He 
could not acquaint them with the true situation, and fence his 
reputation, in case of disaster, by discovering how small his force 
was, and explaining how he was baffled by Mr. Judah P. Benja- 
min, the Secretary of War at Richmond. It was a case of severe 
self-abnegation. The commander suffered daily from the hasty 
and uninformed criticisms of the newspaper press. He was twitted 
with his former reputation ; he was declared incompetent ; and the 
constant interrogatory in the journals was, how long was a slow and 
unsympathetic commander to delay to pluck the victory which a 
brave and sufficient army panted to obtain. 

The truth was revealed with the fall of Fort Donelson. It was 
then known that Gen. Johnston had given the better half of his army 
to defend that place, and that when surrendered to overwhelming 
odds (Gens. Floyd and Pillow escaping) he was left with not more 
than twelve thousand men, to make the retreat from Nashville, 
which this event had made imperative. To President Davis he 
wrote : " In my first report I remained silent " (t. e. with reference 
to the embarrassments which surrounded him in his attempts to 
avert or remedy the disaster of Fort Donelson). " This silence 
you were kind enough to attribute to my generosity. I will not 
lay claim to the motive to excuse my course. I observed silence, 
as it seemed to me the best way to serve the cause and the country. 
The facts were not fully known ; discontent prevailed, and criticism 
or condemnation was more likely to augment than to cure the evil. 
I refrained, well knowing that heavy censures would fall upon me, 
but convinced that it was better to endure them for the present, 



GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 277 

and defer to a more propitious time, an investigation of the con- 
duct of the Generals, for, in the meantime, their services are re- 
quired, and their influences useful. For these reasons. Gens. Floyd 
and PMllow were assigned to duty, for I still felt confidence in their 
gallantry, their energy, and their devotion to the Confederacy. 
The test of merit, in my profession, with the people, is success. It 
is a hard rule^ hut I think it right. If I join this corps to the forces 
of Gen. Beauregard (I confess a hazardous experiment), then those 
who are now exclaiming against me will be without an argument." 

The experiment was eventually made. On leaving Nashville 
Gen. Johnston fell back to Murfreesboro. There he mannged to 
collect an army able to offer battle; but the weather was so inclem- 
ent, and the floods in the river such as to wash the bridges away, 
that nothing effective could be accomplished. He therefore 
marched on, and crossed the Tennessee at Decatur, in Alabama, 
early in March, 1862, and soon afterwards a portion of his army 
joined the command of Beauregard and Bragg, the whole force 
being drawn in around Corinth. 

So far the events of the campaign west of the Alleghanies — 
the capture of Fort Henry, the fall of Fort Donelson, the evacua- 
tion of Columbus — had been of the most disastrous and serious 
consequence to the Confederate cause. It will be well here to look 
to the map to obtain an intelligent view of the only campaign of 
Gen. A. S. Johnston, closing with the untimely death of the com- 
mander. The events referred to opened to the enemy no less than 
three water avenues — the Mississippi, the Tennessee, and the Cum- 
berland rivers, gave him bases of operations on the banks of these 
rivers, and left the Confederates no practicable line of operations in 
all West and Middle Tennessee. The newspaper press of the Con- 
federacy, which was never candid with the public, and delighted 
to misrepresent and insult all the successes of the enemy, attempted 
for some time to make light of the loss of the forts, and told it as a 
story of a capture of hastily constructed earthworks, mounting a 
few cannon — a paltry and unworthy price for a great army and fleet 
to rejoice over. But this view shut out the strategic importance 
of these points, and was to the last degree superficial. The gravity 
of the events was that it had broken the Confederate line in the 
West, and transferred the campaign to the southern bank of the 
Tennessee ; the Confederate army being forced now to take a posi- 



£78 GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 

tion at Corinth, to defend the State of Mississippi, and to command 
the railroads diverging thence eastward and southward. 

But here Gen. Johnston was inspired with a new hope, and 
found a favourable conjuncture for a great battle, in which he 
might recover from his disasters, and repair his reputation so 
unjustly and cruelly injured by the carping critics of the news- 
papers. He had said to his friends, that he was confident of 
retrieving his fortunes at no distant day. The opportunity for 
action had now come ; Grant's army, brought down the Tennessee 
River, was already in his front, while Buell was marching on the 
same point by land ; and Gen. Johnston proposed to attack before 
the j unction of the two forces. 

On the eve of the great battle of Shiloh, he made the following 
glowing and confident address to his troops : 

" Soldiers of the Army of the Mississippi: 

" I have put you in motion to offer battle to the invaders of your 
country. With the resolution and disciplined valour becoming 
men, fighting as you are, for all worth living or dying for, you can 
but march to a decisive victory over the agrarian mercenaries sent 
to subjugate and despoil you of your liberties, property and honour. 
Remember the precious stake involved ; remember the dependence 
of your mothers, your wives, your sisters, and your children on 
the result ; remember the fair, broad, abounding land, the happy 
homes and ties that would be desolated by your defeat. The eyes 
and the hopes of eight millions of people rest upon you ; you are 
expected to show yourself worthy of your race and lineage — 
worthy of the women of the South, whose noble devotion in this 
war has never been exceeded at any time. With such incentives to 
brave deeds, and with the trust that God is with us, your Generals 
will lead you confidently to the combat, assured of success." 

In the early morning of the 6th April, the enemy was attacked 
about twenty miles from Corinth, on the west bank of the Ten- 
nessee River. A small log-cabin, termed Shiloh Church, gave its 
name to the battle. The first line of the Confederates, commanded 
by Hardee, was soon engaged, struck the left of Sherman's line, and 
threw it into wild confusion. Until the enemy had been driven 
to his camps, Hardee's corps only had been engaged ; and while 



GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 279 

the masses of Federal infantry desperately strove to make a stand 
here, the line of Confederates was for a moment checked and dis- 
mayed. At this time Gen. Johnston rode forward with Gen. 
Breckinridge, and seizing a musket, presented it at a charge- 
bayonet, and called on the men to follow. In the scene his grand 
figure seemed to expand to gigantic poportions ; he was mastered 
by excitement, and in his eagerness, forgetting formal orders, he 
beckoned his men on to the charge. The gallant Kentuckians 
were the first to follow — Tennesseeans, Mississippians and Arkan- 
sans caught the heroic contagion ; and now the line moved steadily 
forward at double-quick, and then, with a wild rush, receiving the 
deadly iron blast as it swept along the slopes, and pouring over 
the batteries, they scattered the heavy masses of the infantry in the 
wildest confusion. This was the mightiest effort of physical force 
and courage of the day. As soon as Gen. Johnston perceived the 
success of his appeal, and that his men had caught the spirit which 
he had sought to infuse into them, and were moving forward with 
the requisite vigour and resolution, he rode from the front, and 
returned to his original commanding position, a little in the rear 
and on the right, and waited the result of the assault. 

At half-past ten o'clock, the whole of the first line of the 
Federal army was in utter rout and confusion. Gen. Johnston, 
magnificently mounted, rode now in advance, his thoughts only on 
the great victory he was about achieving. As he pressed rapidly for- 
ward, one of his aides, perceiving blood on his clothes, anxiously 
asked if he was wounded. He replied, " Only a scratch ;" adding, 
in entire unconsciousness of self, with his eyes on his troops : " Was 
not that splendidly done! glorious fellows! we have got them 
now ! " Another moment he reeled in the saddle and was lifted 
down a dying man. His boot being pulled off, it was discovered 
to be full of blood, and that the purple current was still flowing 
rapidly from a small wound under the knee. It was indeed a 
small wound to produce death in a hale and vigourous man. But 
an artery had been severed, and what he had thought a scratch 
proved a mortal hurt. The body was borne from the fire into a 
ravine; stimulants were applied; but the commander was already 
dead ; and as anxious, grief stricken voices sought to arouse him, 
there was no sign of recognition on the grave countenance, peace- 
fully and grandly composed in death. 



280 GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 

The day's work was done ; but the victory that it promised was 
not achieved. There is reason to suppose that if Gen, Johnston 
had not been stopped by the untimely messenger of death, the 
reverse of the second day of Shiloh would not have been experi- 
enced, and that with the setting of the sun, Grant would have been 
crushed, before Buell's reinforcements could have saved him. It 
is said that as his victorious lines were sweeping the field, Gen. 
Johnston, unconscious of his wound, remarked to one of his staff: 
"We will water our horses in the Tennessee Eiver to-night." His 
army fell short of the victory that the commander would have 
grasped ; but even apart from regret for that, never had a death 
before been so deeply lamented in all parts of the South as that of 
Gen. A. S. Johnston. The people remembered his virtues, and 
recalled his noble countenance; they considered how cruelly he 
had been abused by the newspapers, and how in the first part of 
his campaign, although President Davis was personally well dis- 
posed towards him — indeed, an ardent friend — he had been sacrificed 
by meddlesome authorities in the War Department ; they resented 
all former injustice done him ; they dwelt on the dramatic circum- 
stance of his death ; and they remembered that he had fallen on 
the pathway to a great victor}'-, which God did not spare him to 
complete. 

The public honours paid to his memory were exceedingly ap- 
propriate and tender. His death was commemorated in a special 
message of President Davis to Congress. He wrote : 

"But an all-wise Creator has been pleased, while vouchsafing 
to us His countenance in battle, to afflict us with a severe dispen- 
sation, to which we must bow in humble submission. The last 
long, lingering hope has disappeared, and it is but too true, that 
Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston is no more. JVIy long and close 
friendship with this departed chieftain and patriot, forbid me to 
trust myself in giving vent to the feelings which this intelligence 
has evoked. Without doing injustice to the living, it may safely 
be said that our loss is irreparable. Among the shining hosts of 
the great and good who now cluster around the banner of our 
country, there exists no purer spirit, no more heroic soul, than that 
of the illustrious man whose death I join you in lamenting. In 
his death he has illustrated the character for which, through life, 
he was conspicuous — that of singleness of purpose and devotion 



GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 281 

to duty with his whole energies. Bent on obtaining the victory 
which he deemed essential to his country's cause, he rode on to the 
accomplishment of his object, forgetful of self, while his very life- 
blood was fast ebbing away. His last breath cheered his comrades 
on to victory. The last sound he heard was their shout of victory. 
His last thought was his country, and long and deeply will his 
country mourn his loss." 

In the army his death was announced in the following general 
orders : 

Headquarters Army op Mississippi, ) 
Corinth, Miss., April 10, 1862. y 

Soldiers : — Your late Commander-in-Chief, Gen. A. S. John- 
ston, is dead; a fearless soldier, a sagacious captain, a reproachless 
man has f.dlen. One who, in his devotion to our cause, shrank 
from no sacrifice ; one who, animated by a sense of duty, and sus- 
tained by a sublime courage, challenged danger, and perished gal- 
lantly for his country, while leading forward his brave columns to 
victory. His signal example of heroism and patriotism, if imi- 
tated, would make his army invincible. A grateful country 
will mourn his loss, revere his name, and cherish his many 
virtues. 

P. G. T. Beauregard, Oeneral commanding. 

The body was taken to New Orleans, and was finally interred 
there with an august ceremony, a military and civic procession fol- 
lowing it to the last resting-place in what is known as the St. Louis 
Cemetery. As the body reposed in state, before the burial, thou- 
sands visited it ; many shed tears of true grief; the gentle hands 
and weeping eyes of women adorned the mournful scene ; and the 
coffin, covered with beautiful flowers, containing the dead warrior, 
with his sheathed sword by his side, was attended to the cemetery 
not only by a procession of dignitaries, but by a long train of heart- 
stricken mourners, carrying in their faces the emblems of woe. 
Recently a lady passing through this crowded cemetery to visit the 
grave of Gen. Johnston, found the following written epitaph pasted 
upon a rough board attached to the tomb. The author is not 
known ; but an inscription more classic and noble has seldom been 
put over the head of the dead : 



282 GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 



IN MEMORIAM. 

Behind this stone is laid, 

For a season, 

Albert Sidney Johnston, 

A General in the Army of the Confederate States, 

Who fell at Shiloh, Tenn., 

On the sixth day of April, A.D., 

Eighteen hundred and sixty-two; 

A man tried in many high ofl&ces 

And critical enterprises, 

And found faithful in all. 

His life was one long sacrifice of interest to conscience ; 

And even that life, on a woeful Sabbath, 

Did he yield as a holocaust to his country's need. 

Not wholly understood was he while he lived ; 

But, in his death his greatness stands confess'd 

In a people's tears. 

Eesolute, moderate, clear of envy, yet not wanting 

In that firmer ambition which makes men great and 

pure. 

In his honour — impregnable; 

In his simplicity — sublime. 

"No country e'er had a truer son — no cause a nobler 

champion ; 

No people a bolder defender — no principle a purer 

victim 

Than the dead Soldier 

Who sleeps here 1 

The cause for which he perished is lost — 

The people for whom he fought are crushed — 

The hopes in which he trusted are shattered — 

The Flag he loved guides no more the charging lines; 

But his fame, consign'd to the keeping of that 

time, which 

Happily is not so much the tomb of Virtue as its 

shrine. 

Shall, in the years to come, fire modest worth to 

noble ends. 



GENERAL ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 283 

In honour, now, our great captain rests ; 

A bereaved people mourn him. 

Three commonwealths proudly claim him ; 

And history shall cherish him 

Among those choicer spirits, who, holding their conscience 

unmixed with blame, 

Have been, in all conjunctures, true to themselves, 

their country, and their God. 



GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Equivocal reputation of Gen. Bragg in the war. — His services in Mexico. — Offers his 
Bword to Louisiana. — His command at Pensacola. — Gallant participation in the 
battle of Shiloh. — His reflections upon Gen. Beauregard. — In command of the 
"Western forces. — His Kentucky campaign, as correspondent to the Virginia 
campaig-n of 1862. — Battle of PerryviUe.— Gen. Bragg's retreat through Cumberland 
Gap. — Criticisms and recriminations touching the campaign. 

The name of Braxton Bragg is connected with so much of 
recrimination in the late war, and has been bandied so violently 
between admirers and censors, that it is difficult to balance for 
history his character and deeds. In a popular biography, however, 
we have nothing to do with disputed questions of military science, 
unless to refer to them in a very general way ; and with this 
explanation we shall proceed to give the main events in the military 
life of Gen. Brngg, and a view of his character, with a sincere effort 
to do equal justice to the man, and to the cause in which his record 
was so confused by partisanship, and his reputation so equivocal 
through constant recrimination. 

He is a native of North Carolina; born in Warren County, in 
1815. Having graduated at West Point, he received the appoint- 
ment of second-lieutenant of the Third Artillery, July 1, 1837; 
engaged in the Seminole war, and in 1838 was promoted to a iirst- 
lieutenancy. In the Mexican war he served under Gen. Taylor, 
and on the 9th May, 1846, was brevetted captain " for gallant 
and distinguished conduct in the defence of Fort Brown, Texas." 
His other services in Mexico were meritorious, and he was brevetted 
major " for gallant conduct in the several conflicts at Monterey, on 
the 21st, 22d, and 23d of September, 1846." At Buena Vista he 
commanded a battery, and was conspicuous for his bravery ; and it 
was popularly reported that in the hottest part of the engagement, 



GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 285 

Gen. Taylor rode to his battery, and gave his famous nonchalant 
order: "A little more grape, Capt. Bragg!" The phrase gave a 
familiar title to Bragg, although the anecdote has been impeached, 
and is of doubtful authority. For his service on this field, Bragg 
was brevetted lieutenant-colonel. 

A singular incident is related of his military life in Mexico, 
which we give in Col. Bragg's own words. He says, in a letter 
to a friend, dated August 27, 1847 : " An attempt was made, about 
2 A.M., night before last, to assassinate me in my bed. I have no 
clue to the perpetrator, and can suggest no reason for the act. My 
escape without injury is almost miraculous. As exaggerated 
accounts may reach the press, the truth may interest you. A 
twelve-pound shell, heavily charged, was placed within two feet of 
my bed, just outside of my tent, and exploded by a slow match; 
the fragments literally riddling my tent and bedding, pieces passing 
above and below me, some through a blanket spread over me, and yet 
I was untouched. I was not aware that I had an enemy in the world." 

At the period of the commencement of hostilities between the 
North and South Col. Bragg, who had resigned from the United 
States service, was cultivating a plantation in Louisiana. He 
offered his sword to the cause of the South ; he was made Com- 
mander-in-chief of the volunteer forces of Louisiana ; and on the 
accession of the Confederate power, his military experience was 
remembered, and he was appointed a Brigadier-General by Presi- 
dent Davis, and put in command of the forces at Pensacola. 

The Federals held Fort Pickens, and there was an eager expec- 
tation of the public that the drama of Fort Sumter would be 
repeated here, and an attempt made to take this work, which, 
situated on the extremity of Santa Rosa Island, commanded the 
entrance to the harbour. But the events of the siege proved of 
but little interest. On the 8th October, 1861, Gen. Bragg sent an 
expedition to break up an encampment of " Billy Wilson " Zouaves 
on the island, which was of doubtful success ; and in the succeeding 
month the Federal fleet replied by a lame attempt, assisted by the 
guns of the fort, to bombard and capture the Confederate position. On 
this event Gen. Bragg published the following congratulatory order : 

Head-Quahtees Army of Pensacola, 

Neae Pensacola, Fla., Nov. 25, 1861. 
The signal success which has crowned our forty hours' conflict 



286 GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 

with the arrogant and confident enemy — whose government, it 
seems, is hourly looking for an announcement of his success in 
capturing our position — should fill our hearts with gratitude to a 
merciful Providence. This terrific bombardment of more than 
a hundred guns of the heaviest calibre, causing the very earth to 
tremble around us, has, from the wild firing of the enemy, resulted 
in the loss of only seven lives, with eight wounded ; but two of 
them seriously, five of the deaths from an accident, and but two 
from the enemy's shot. "We have crippled their ships, and driven 
them off", and forced the garrison of Fort Pickens, in its impotent 
rage, to slake its revenge by firing on our hospital, and burning 
the habitations of our innocent women and children, who have 
been driven therefrom by an unannounced storm of shot and shell. 
For the coolness, devotion, and conspicuous gallantry of the troops, 
the General tenders his cordial thanks ; but for the precision of their 
firing, in this their first practice, which would have done credit to 
veterans, he is unable to express his admiration. Their country 
and their enemy will both remember the 22d and 23d of No- 
vember. 

By command of Maj.-Gen. Bragg. 

Geo. G. Garner, Assh. Adft.-Gen. 

In February, 1862, Gen. Bragg, now made a Major-General, 
had his headquarters established at Mobile ; and shortly afterwards 
joined his forces with the army of the Mississippi, under command 
of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. His first important field was at 
Shiloh, where he commanded the Second and largest army corps, 
consisting of 13,589 troops. In this action, Gen. Bragg made an 
excellent mark, and answered all the expectations which his repu- 
tation had inspired. When the first line of Confederates, driving 
the enemy through his camps, was found to falter as it came upon 
the Federal batteries, posted on eminences, with strong infantry 
supports, Bi'agg moved up steadily and promptly to its support, 
developed his whole line, and swept the ground, capturing three 
large encampments, and three batteries of artillery. 

Of the singular close of the day's performances, Gen. Bragg 
writes as follows : " The troops were soon put in motion, respond- 
ing with great alacrity to the command of * Forward ! let every 
order be forward.' It was now probably past four o'clock, the 



GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 287 

descending sun warning us to press our advantage, and finish the 
work before night should compel us to desist. Fairly in motion, 
these commands again, with a common head, and a common pur- 
pose, swept all before them. Neither battery nor battalion could 
withstand their onslaught. Parsing through camp after camp, 
rich in military spoils of every kind, the enemy was driven head- 
long from every position, and thrown in confused masses upon the 
river bank, behind his heavy artillery, and under cover of his 
gunboats at the landing. He had left nearly the whole of his 
light artillery in our hands, and some three thousand or more 
prisoners, who were cut off from their retreat by the closing in 
of our troops on the left, under Major-Gen. Polk, with a portion of 
his reserve corps, and Brig.-Gen. Ruggles, with Anderson's and 
Pond's brigades of his division. The prisoners were dispatched 
to the rear under a proper guard, all else being left on the field, 
that we might press our advantage. TJie enemy had fallen hack in 
much confusion^ and was crowded in unorganized masses on the river 
bank, vainly striving to cross. They were covered by a battery of 
heavy guns well served, and their two gunboats, which now poured 
a heavy fire upon our supposed positions, for we were entirely hid 
by the forest. Their fire, though terrific in sound, and producing 
some consternation at first, did us no damage, as the shells all passed 
over, and exploded far beyond our positions. As soon as our 
troops could be again formed and put in motion, the order was 
given to move forward at all points, and sweep the enemy from the 
field. The sun was about disappearing, so that little time was left 
us to finish the glorious work of the day ; a day unsurpassed in 
the history of warfare for its daring deeds, brilliant achievements, 
and heavy sacrifices. Our troops, greatly exhausted by twelve 
hours' incessant fighting, without food, mostly responded to the 
order with alacrity, and the movement commenced with every pros- 
pect of success, though a heavy battery in our front, and the gun- 
boats on our right, seemed determined to dispute every inch of 
ground. Just at this time, an order ivas received from the Command- 
ing-General, to withdraw the forces beyond (lie enemy's fire. As this 
was communicated in many instances direct to brigade commanders, 
the troops were soon in motion, and the action ceased. The different 
commands, mixed and scattered, bivouacked at points most con- 
venient to their positions, and beyond the range of the enemy's 



288 GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 

guns. All firing, except a half-hour shot from the gunboats, ceased, 
and the night was passed in quiet." 

Of the criticism, which the statement abo.ve evidently contains, 
respecting Gen. Beauregard's failure to complete the victory of the 
first day of Shiloh (reversed as it was by the events of the next 
twenty-four hours) it will be obvious to remark, that it was unfor- 
tunate that Gen. Bragg did not adopt for himself this lesson of 
improving critical opportunities. For we shall see, in his subse- 
quent campaigns, ti^at he repeated many times the very errour he 
reprehended, never completed his successes, and of all Confederate 
Generals was most famous for first-day bailies, and for victories with 
defeats on their heels. 

The second day of Shiloh brought Buell's army on the scene, 
and ended with the retreat of the Confederates to Corinth. Bragg 
was made a full General after the battle ; and when Beauregard 
retired bis army about fifty miles south of Corinth, among the 
forests of Mississippi, occasion was taken of his furlough to recruit 
his health, to put Bragg in command of his department, and to 
give him the conduct of the whole campaign, between the Alle- 
ghany Mountains and the Mississippi Eiver. 

A grand scheme was now organized for an aggressive cam- 
paign, embracing the whole theatre of the war in the West. Gen. 
Bragg had addressed his troops in significant language. He had 
proclaimed to them : " The slight reverses we have met on the 
sea-board have worked us good as well as evil ; the brave troops 
so long retained there have hastened to swell your numbers, while 
the gallant Van Born and invincible Price, with the ever success- 
ful ' Army of the West,' are now in your midst, with numbers 
almost equalling the ' Army of Shiloh.' We have, then, but to 
strike and destroy ; and as the enemy's whole resources are concen- 
trated here, we shall not only redeem Tennessee, Kentucky, and 
Missouri at one blow, but open the portals of the whole North- 
west." 

The campaign hinted here was intended as the western corre- 
spondent to the grand movement of 1862 in Virginia, to relieve the 
country of the invaders, and put the enemy back upon the frontier. 
The theatre was a much larger one than that on which Lee was 
contending. The proposed line of operations extended for a dis- 
tance of between seven and eight hundred miles, from Cumberland 



GENERAL BRAXTON' BRAGG. 289 

Gap, on the borders of Eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, to the 
vicinity of the Lower Mississippi. It was proposed to assault 
Baton Eouge at the lower extremity of this line, to manoeuvre 
against the Federal army in the vicinity of Corinth in the centre, 
and to operate from its extreme right against Eastern Kentucky. 
With these objects in view, a small army under Gen. Breckinridge 
was assembled in Louisiana, a larger force under Van Dorn in 
Upper Mississippi, whilst a still more formidable army, under 
Gen. Bragg, was organized in Eastern Tennessee for the invasion 
of Kentucky. 

It was a magnificent prospect, in which Bragg indulged visions 
of a transcendent fame, and the public was dazzled with great 
expectations. In August he began his movement from Tupelo, in 
Mississippi, through the States of Georgia and Alabama, to Chat- 
tanooga, with a view to operations in East Tennessee and Ken- 
tucky. His army was now divided into three corps, respectively 
commanded by Major-Generals Polk, Hardee, and Kirby Smith ; 
the latter being at Knoxville, ready to push forward when Bragg 
should reach Chattanooga. After arriving here, Bragg ascertained 
that Kirby Smith had turned Cumberland Gap and was marching 
on Lexington, Kentucky. Gen. Humphrey Marshall was to enter 
Eastern Kentucky from Western Yirginia ; and Bragg was now 
elated with the prospect that Buell's army, which had fallen back 
from the Memphis and Charleston Railroad, and appeared now 
likely to make a hopeless race to get between the Confederates 
and the Ohio, " was pretty well disposed of" He dispatched to 
Gen. Yan Dorn, who remained in the Mississippi district : " Sher- 
man and Rosecrans we leave to you and Price, satisfied you can 
dispose of them, and we confidently liope to meet you on the Ohio" 

On the 5th September, Gen. Bragg entered Kentucky, and 
marched to the right of Bowling Green, sending an advance on to 
Mumfordsville to demand its surrender. Mumfordsville is a large 
town on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and Bragg was now 
between it and Buell's army at Bowling Green. On the 17th Sep- 
tember, Mumfordsville surrendered, and more than four thousand 
prisoners were taken. It appeared now that the crisis of the cam- 
paign had arrived ; for Bragg was on the road by which Buell 
would be forced to march to get between the Confederates and the 
Ohio River, while Kirby Smith, at Lexington, threatened Louisville, 

19 



290 GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 

about fifty miles distant. In this conjuncture, however, Gen. 
Bragg very unexpectedly declined battle, for no other reason that 
has ever been developed than that given in his official report; 
that his subsistence was low, and that " a serious engagement would 
not fail, whatever its results, to materially cripple him." The 
consequence was thatBuell, without opposition and almost within 
sight of the Confederate army, effected his march to Louisville, 
recapturing Mumfordsville on the way, whilst Bragg, marching 
first to Bardstown and then to Frankfort, contented himself with 
inaugurating a provisional Governor of Kentucky.* 

* Here G^n. Bragg issued a long rhetorical address, portions of which we copy 
below : 

TO THE PEOPLE OP THE NORTHWEST. 
The responsibility then rests with you, tlie people of the Northwest, of continuing 
an unjust aud aggressive warfare on the people of the Confederate States. And in 
the name of reason and humanity, I call upon you to pause and reflect, what cause 
of quarrel so bloody have you against these States, and what are you to gain by it. 
Nature has set her seal upon these States, and marked them out to be your friends 
and allies. She has bound them to you by all the ties of geographical contiguity and 
conformation, and the great mutual interests of commerce and productions. "V\Tien 
the passion* of this unnatural war shall have subsided, and reason resumes her sway, 
a community of interest will force commercial and social coalition between the great 
grain and stock -growing States of the Northwest, aud the cotton, tobacco, and sugar 
regions of the South. The Mississippi river is the grand artery of their mutual 
national lives, which men cannot sever, and which never ought to have been suffered 
to be disturbed by the antagonisms, the cupidity, and the bigotry of New England 
and the East. It is from the East that have come the germs of this bloody and most 
mmatural strife. It is from the meddlesome, grasping, and fanatical disposition of the 
same people who have imposed upon you and us alike those tariffs, internal improve- 
ments, and fishing-bounty laws, whereby we have been taxed for their aggrandizement. 
It IS from the East that will come the tax-gatherer to collect from you that mighty debt 
which is being amassed mountain high for the purpose of ruining your best customers 
and natural friends. 

When this war ends, the same antagonisms of interest, policy, and feeling which 
have been pressed upon us by the East, and forced us from a political union where 
we had ceased to find safety for our interests or respect for our rights, will bear down 
upon you and separate you from a people whose traditional policy it is to live by their 
wits upon the labour of their neighbours. Meantime, you are being used by them to 
fight the battle of emaucipation ; a battle which, if successful, destroys our prosperity, 
and with it your best markets to buy and sell. Our mutual dependence is the work 
ot the Creator. "With our peculiar productions, convertible into gold, we should, in a 
state of peace, draw from you largely the products of your labour. In us of the South 
you would find rich and willing customers ; in the East you must confront rivals in 
production and trade, and the tax-gatherer in all the forms of partial legislation. You 
are blindly following abolitionism to this end, whilst they are nicely calculating tho 



GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 291 

This sharp and unexpected turn of affairs gave a new face to 
the campaign. At Bardstown, Gen. Bragg sent a dispatch to Yan 
Dorn, which was strangely in contrast to the glowing messages he 
had sent from Chattanooga; for he now urged that Van Dorn 
should bring his columns to his support, and declared that an over- 
whelming force of the enemy was concentrating in his front. The 
entry of Buell into Louisville had given hira all the advantage he 
wished for; he had obtained reinforcements, and moving on the 
1st October, he had pressed the Confederate rear and soon advanced 
his three corps towards Perryville, a few miles south of Frankfort. 
At this time Gen. Bragg had his forces badly divided ; the divi- 
sions of Kirby Smith and Withers had been drawn off by another 
demonstration of the enemy, which proved a feint ; and he was 
left with three divisions of Polk's corps — Cheatham's, Buckner's 
and Anderson's — to fight the battle of Perryville, which took place 
on the 8th October. Of the acti©n, Gen. Bragg writes : " For the 
time engaged it was the severest and most desperately contested 
engagement within my knowledge. Fearfully outnumbered, our 
troops did not hesitate to engage at any odds, and, though checked 
at times, they eventually carried every position, and drove the 
enemy about two miles. But for the intervention of night, we 
should have completed the work. We had captured fifteen pieces 
of artillery by the most daring charges, killed one and wounded 
two brigadier-generals, and a very large number of inferiour officers 
and men, estimated at no less than 4,000, and captured 400 
prisoners, including three staff-officers, with servants, carriage and 
baggage of Maj.-Gen. McCook. The ground was literally covered 

gain of obtaining your trade on terms that would impoverish your country. You say 
you are fighting for the free navigation of the Mississippi. It is yours freely, and has 
always been, without striking a blow. You say you are fighting to maintain the 
Union. That Union is a thing of the past. A union of consent was tlie only union 
ever worth a drop of blood. "When force came to be substituted for consent, the 
casket was broken, and the constitutional jewel of your patriotic adoration was 
forever gone. 

I come then to you with the olive-branch of peace, and offer it to your accept- 
ance, in the name of the memories of the past, and the ties of the present and future. 
With you remains the responsibiUty and the option of continuing a cruel and wasting 
war, which can only end, after still greater sacrifices, in such treaty of peace as we 
now offer, or of preserving the blessings of peace by the simple abandonment of the 
design of subjugating a people over whom no right of dominion has been conferred on 
you by God or man. 



292 GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 

witla his dead and wounded. In such a contest our own loss was 
necessarily severe, probably not less than 2,500 killed, wounded, 
and missing." 

The battle of Perry ville was a Confederate victory ; but it had 
really been fought to cover Gen. Bragg's retreat, which he had 
previously resolved upon, in view of the rapidly augmenting forces 
of the enemy, who had now perfected his communications, and the 
danger of risking a Confederate army in Kentucky after the season 
of autumnal rains had made the roads impracticable for retreat. 
On the 13th October, Bragg put his army in motion for Cumber- 
land Gap, secured his retreat with a vast amount of spoil, and 
ended the campaign of Kentucky. 

The campaign fell greatly below public expectation, and was 
long a theme of violent criticism in the Confederacy. On the other 
end of the line of operations in the West, Breckinridge had failed 
at Baton Rouge, and Van Dorn at Corinth ; and the general feel- 
ing in the Confederacy was that of disappointment at the results 
of a campaign that had been so extensive in its plan, and so 
promising in its early announcements. Of the operations in Ken- 
tucky a fair critic has said : " Gen. Bragg has been blamed for 
having failed to bring all his force into the field at Perryville, in 
which case, it is alleged, he might have crushed the enemy ; but 
the crisis of the campaign was not the battle of Perryville, which 
was obviously fought to cover the retreat of the army, but the 
junction of Buell with Wright at Louisville; it was at Mumfords- 
ville, or in its vicinity, that Gen. Bragg should have concentrated 
his army for the decisive battle, and should have fallen on Buell 
during his march to Louisville, forcing him either to accept battle 
on his adversaries' terms, or to have fallen back on Nashville, and 
left Louisville and even Cincinnati to their fate." 

In Kentucky, the disappointment of the party of Southern 
sympathizers was very great, and Bragg was mercilessly criticised. 
It was said that the people of Kentucky looked upon the fleeting 
presence of his army as a " 7ior.se -s/ioi^;," or military pageantry, and 
not as indicating the stern reality of war; and the excuse was 
made for their not rising in arms to expel the Federal authority, 
that they were diffident in following the fortunes of the Confed- 
eracy under the leadership of such an officer as Bragg. A clamour 
was raised in Richmond for the removal of a commander who had 



GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 293 

done so much to raise public expectation and then disappoint it. 
But Gen. Bragg had no sooner got his army through Cumberland 
Gap, than leaving it under the command of Gen. Polk, he hurried 
to Richmond to make the necessary explanations, and demonstrate 
there the successes he claimed to have obtained. 

It was strongly urged on his side that, although the Kentucky 
campaign had fallen short of the prime object of the liberation of 
that State, yet it had had the effect of relieving portions of Ala- 
bama and Tennessee, had obtained considerable advantages, and 
had secured supplies of vital necessity to the Confederate armies. 
A member of Gen. Bragg's staff gave the following as the advan- 
tages gained in the advance upon Kentucky : 

" 1st. Buell, who had been threatening Chattanooga, and even 
Atlanta, was forced to evacuate East Tennessee in * double-quick.' 

'* 2d. North Alabama was thereby relieved from Federal occu- 
pation. 

" 3d. We got possession of Cumberland Gap, the doorway 
through that mountain to Knoxville and the Virginia and Ten- 
nessee Railroad. 

"4th. We took from 18,000 to 20,000 prisoners at Richmond, 
Mumfordsville, and other places. 

" 5th. We brought off a far greater amount of arms and am- 
munition than we carried into Kentucky. 

" 6th. Jeans enough to clothe the Army of the Mississippi 
were brought off, besides what Gen. Smith obtained. I know not 
what this amounts to ; but I understand it is, as it ought to be 
from his longer stay in the State, much larger. 

" 7th. We beat the enemy in three considerable battles — at 
Richmond, Mumfordsville, and Perry ville, and our cavalry whipped 
them in twenty smaller ones. 

" 8th. And last, we have paid a debt of honour due by the 
Confederate States to Kentucky. We have offered her an army 
to help her liberation, and her exclusion would be no longer an 
obstacle in honour or on principle to a treaty of peace with the 
United States." 

The truth is, the sum of these successes was not inconsiderable, 
and the public reception of the results of the Kentucky campaign 



294 GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 

was scarcely just, because the popular imagination had been too 
much excited bj the hope of yet more important consequences. 
The Government, however, was much consoled by the rich spoil 
that had been gathered : 15,000 horses and mules, 8,000 beeves, 
50,000 barrels of pork, 1,000,000 yards of Kentucky cloth, &c., 
&c. It was ascertained that Gen. Bragg's army was better dis- 
ciplined, better clothed, and better fed than when it commenced 
the campaign ; that it was in better health and tone ; and so there 
was no hesitation in continuing him in command. In a few weeks 
he was again in front of the enemy at Nashville, where Gen. Rose- 
crans, having superseded Buell, was reorganizing and preparing 
his troops for a forward movement. 



GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 295 



CHAPTER XXY. 

Battle of Murfreesboro. — Interval of repose. — Retreat to Chattanooga. — Gen. Bragg 
refuses to fight at the instance of the "War Department — Reinforced from the 
Army of Northern Virginia. — Battle of Chickamauga. — A commentary in tho 
Richmond Whig. — Violent quarrel between Gens. Bragg and Longstreet. — Tho 
disaster of Missionary Ridge. — Gen. Bragg relieved from commaud and appointed 
" military adviser " of President Davis. — Explanations in a Richmond journaL — 
Gen. Bragg's last service in the field. — FaU of "Wilmington. — Gen. Bragg's military 
career criticised. — His ardent Southern patriotism. 

The year 1862 was to expire with a grand conflict of arms in 
the West. On the 26th December the enemy advanced in force 
from Nashville to attack Gen. Bragg at Murfreesboro. It had been 
well ascertained that his strength was over sixty thousand effective 
men, while the force which Bragg had on the field, the morning of 
the battle, was less than two-thirds the Federal numbers. On the 
28th December this force was concentrated in front of Murfreesboro. 
Rosecrans disposed the mass of his troops on his left, prepared to 
force the passage of the Stone River on the north of the Murfrees- 
boro rail ; whilst his right, more extended and more advanced, 
formed an angle with the centre and left, and faced in an almost 
due easterly direction. The Nashville turnpike and the river 
divided both armies into two wings; the Confederate left, under 
Gen. Hardee, composed of the divisions of Cleburne and McCown, 
with Breckinridge in reserve, being formed on the east bank of 
the river, with its left resting near the Nashville road. 

It was determined by Gen. Bragg, that on daylight of the 31st 
December, Hardee should open the battle, the attack to be taken 
up by Polk's command in succession to the right flank ; the object 
being to force the enemy back on Stone River, and, if practicable, 
by the aid of cavalry, cut his communications with Nashville. 
The attack was made at seven o'clock in the morning. Of its effect 
Gen, Bragg writes : " The enemy was taken completely by sur- 
prise ; general and staff-officers were not mounted ; artillery horses 
not hitched, and infantry not formed ; a hot and inviting breakfast 
of coffee and other luxuries, to which our gallant and hardy men 



296 GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 

had long been strangers, was found upon the fire unserved, and 
was left whilst we pushed on to the enjoyment of a more inviting 
feast — that of captured artillery, flying battalions, and hosts of 
craven prisoners, begging for the lives they had forfeited by their 
acts of brutality and atrocity." 

For two miles, through fields and forests, over ditches, fences, 
and ravines, Hardee routed and pushed the enemy ; and it seemed 
that the day was decided with the breaking of Eosecrans' right 
wing. Ilis line was thrown back entirely at right angles to his 
first position. But here the battle paused, and the enemy rallied 
all his energies for a desperate struggle. In front of the Confed- 
erate centre was an oval hill, not very high, but commanding in all 
directions, and exceedingly available. Upon this hill Rosecrans 
placed a crown of twenty guns, supporting it right and left and 
rear by large masses of infantry, and took his stand to contest what 
remained of the day. The position was well chosen, and despe- 
rately held ; it proved impracticable for Bragg; two attempts were 
made to carry it by infantry, and were unsuccessful. Abandoning 
any further experiment of assault, Gen. Bragg brought up his 
artillery, and with a tremendous but ineffectual cannonade on both 
sides, the day ended. 

Of the results of the day Gen. Bragg telegraphed to Richmond : 
*' We assailed the enemy at seven o'clock this morning, and after 
ten hours' hard fighting have driven him from every position 
except his extreme left, where he has successfully resisted us. "With 
the exception of this point, we occupy the whole field. We cap- 
tured four thousand prisoners, including two Brigadier-Generals, 
thirty-one pieces of artillery, and some two hundred wagons and 
teams. Our loss is heavy ; that of the enemy much greater." 

The next day he sent the following dispatch : 

MURFBEESBORO, January 1, 1863. 

The enemy has yielded his strong point and is falling back. 
We occupy the whole field and shall follow. * * * * God has 
granted lis a happy New Year. 

Braxton Bragg. 

But he was sadly mistaken in his interpretation of the wily 
movement of Rosecrans ; for, instead of retreating, that commander 



GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 297 

Lad retired but a short distance in rear of his former position, to 
obtain a wider front. On the 2d January, one of the enemy's 
divisions recrossed Stone River, and took position on rising ground, 
which enfiladed Gen, Polk's line. It became necessary to defeat this 
movement, and a column of attack was formed under Breckin- 
ridge, in two lines of four brigades. The Confederates advanced 
confidently, and drove the division which threatened Polk's line, 
gaining the crest of rising ground overlooking the river. But 
across the river they encountered the remainder of Crittenden's 
corps, with a portion of those of Thomas and McCook, posted on 
commanding ground. The Federals in turn advanced, and drove 
back Breckinridge's division in considerable disorder, inflicting on 
it such heavy loss, that it is said two thousand Confederates were 
killed or wounded in half an hour. Bragg, perceiving the disaster, 
ordered up Anderson's brigade of Polk's corps in support. Advanc- 
ing steadily through the broken infantry of Breckinridge's divi- 
sion, Anderson checked the pursuit and saved the artillery aban- 
doned in the confusion, with the exception of four guns, which 
remained in the enemy's hands. Night put an end to the engage- 
ment, and the two armies reoccupied their former lines. 

The next day each army appeared to await an attack from its 
opponent. Satisfied, however, of his inability to dislodge the enemy 
from his intrench ments, and hearing of reinforcements to him. Gen. 
Bragg determined to withdraw from his front, and retire his army 
to Tullahoma. Of the necessity of this movement Gen. Bragg 
says: "On Saturday morning, the 3d January, our forces had 
been in line of battle five days and nights, with but little rest, hav- 
ing no reserves; their baggage and tents had been loaded, and the 
wagons were four miles off; their provisions, if cooked at all, were 
most imperfectly prepared with scanty means; the weather had 
been severe from cold and almost constant rain, and we had no 
change of clothing, and in many places could not have fire. The 
necessary consequence was the great exhaustion of both ofl&cers 
and men, many having to be sent to the hospitals in the rear, and 
more still were beginning to straggle from their commands — an evil 
from which we had so far suffered but little. During the whole 
of the day the rain continued to fall with little intermission, and 
the rapid rise in Stone River indicated that it would soon be 
unfordable. Late on Friday night, I had received the captured 



298 GENGRAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 

papers of Maj.-Gen. McCook, commanding one corps (Tarmee of the 
enemy, showing their effective strength to have been very nearly, 
if not quite 70,000 men. Before noon reports from Brig.-Gen. 
Wheeler satisfied me that the enemy, instead of retiring, was 
receiving reinforcements. Common prudence and the safety of my 
army, upon which even the safety of our cause depended, left no 
doubt in my mind as to the necessity for ray withdrawal from so 
unequal a contest." 

For many months nothing was done by the main army under 
Gen. Bragg, although detached commands were at work. It rested 
at Tullahoma and vicinity, and was soon stronger in numbers than 
■when the battle of Murfreesboro was fought, owing to Gen. Bragg's 
vigorous measures to arrest deserters and reclaim absentees. The 
army was well clothed, healthy, and in fine spirits. During this 
interval of leisure, an interesting incident occurred in Gen. Bragg's 
life : the baptism of the commander in his camp. The ceremony 
was performed in an impressive manner by Bishop Elliot, who in 
view of a congregation of about 3,000 of the troops, took the 
General's hand in his own and said, " Braxton, if thou hast not 
already been baptized, I baptize thee," etc. A writer in one of the 
newspapers, referring to the scene, remarked : " Gen. Bragg has 
thus set an example to his army which will not be without its 
influence. On visiting Gen. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, I 
was struck with the high moral character which prevailed among 
the officers and soldiers, as well as the deep religious feeling that 
pervaded, especially in the lamented Gen. Jackson's corps. It will 
be a source of congratulation should Gen. Bragg succeed in pro- 
ducing the same beneficial result. There is no occasion for men 
becoming reckless and demoralized on entering the army, but on 
the contrary, a different feeling should prevail." 

Without introducing into the narrative minor affairs of Gen. 
Bragg's army, it is not until July 1863, that we take up the thread 
of its operations. It had been reduced for the defence of Vicks- 
burg against the protest of its commander and that of Gen. John- 
ston ; and with his flank now threatened by a superiour army un- 
der Kosecrans, who had occupied Hoover's Gap, Gen. Bragg thought 
it advisable to fall back to Chattanooga, which he did in the last 
days of July, establishing his headquarters first in Bridgeport, and 
then in the town. Around this place the Confederate army was 



GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 299 

now encamped ; Rosecrans advancing upon it across the moun- 
tains on one side, and Burnside, commanding the Federal forces in 
East Tennessee, coming down the valley, by the way of Cumber- 
land Gap, on the other. 

At this time there appears to have been great impatience in 
Eichmond for a battle in the West, and another outcry of popular 
dissatisfaction with Gen. Bragg. To these expressions he replied 
in a letter to the "War Department, dated August 8, 18C3, in which 
he declared, that with all the reinforcements he could get from 
Johnston, he would not have more than 40,000 effective men ; 
while Rosecrans had 60,000, and would be reinforced by Burnside 
with 30,000 more — making 90,000 against 40,000 — and as a true 
patriot he was opposed to throwing away our armies in enterprises 
sure to terminate disastrously. 

Gen. Cooper, the Adjutant-General at Richmond, sent this 
response to the President, asking if Bragg should not be ordered to 
fight under such circumstances. But the President paused, and 
finally sent back the paper indorsed that " only a suggestion could 
be given to a Commanding-General to fight a battle ; but to order 
him to fight when he predicted a failure in advance, would be 
unwise." Indeed, the decision was so much in favour of Bragg's 
protest, that it was determined to reinforce him from the Army of 
Virginia with Longstreet's corps, and enable him to give the battle 
he had so long declined on the score of inferiour numbers. 

On the 7th September, Gen. Bragg evacuated Chattanooga, as 
Rosecrans appeared to be making a flank movement towards Rome, 
Georgia, and occupying a line about ten miles south of Chatta- 
nooga, and fronting the east slope of Lookout Mountain, he deter- 
mined to engage the enemy as he emerged from the mountain 
gorges. He issued the following address to his troops : 

Headquaetehs Aemt op Tennessee, in the Field, 
Lafayette, Ga., Sept. 10. 
The troops will be ready for an immediate move against the 
enemy. His demonstrations on our flanks have been thwarted ; 
and twice he has retired before us when offered battle. We must 
now force him to the issue. Soldiers, you are largely reinforced — 
you must now seek the contest. In doing so, I know you will be 
content to suffer privations and encounter hardships. Heretofore 
you have never failed to respond to your General when he has 



300 GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 

asked a sacrifice at your hands. Eeljing upon your gallantry and 
patriotism he asks you to add a crowning glory to the wreaths you 
wear. Our credit is in your keeping. Your enemy boasts that 
you are demoralized, and retreating before him. Having accom- 
plished our object in driving back his flank movement, let us now 
turn on his main force and crush it in its fancied security. Your 
General will lead you. You have but to respond to assure us of a 
glorious triumph over an insolent foe. I know what your response 
will be. Trusting in God and the justice of our cause, and nerved 
by the love of the dear ones at home, failure is impossible, and 
victory must be ours. 

Braxton Bragg, 

General commanding. 

The great battle was preceded by a singular opportunity of 
advantage which Rosecrans unwittingly offered to his adversary, 
and which Gen. Bragg undoubtedly lost through the contumacy 
and delays of some of his division commanders. The enemy 
advanced, as he supposed in pursuit of a retreating and demoralized 
army, exposing himself in detail ; and the centre corps, under 
Thomas, being in McLemore's Cove, immediately opposite Lafay- 
ette, at and near which Gen. Bragg had all his forces concentrated, 
was completely at the mercy of the latter. It was only necessary 
that Gen. Bragg should fall upon it with such a mass as would 
have crushed it. The attack was to be made by Gen. Hindman, 
and D. H. Hill was to move rapidly to join his forces ; but delays 
occurred ; Hill did not act in concert ; a day was lost ; and 
Thomas, perceiving his errour, effected his escape up the mountain. 

The next attempt of Bragg was to. make a flank movement, 
turn the enemy's left, and get between him and Chattanooga. The 
movement commenced on the 19tli September; but the enemy 
anticipated it, commenced the attack with Thomas' corps, and en- 
gaging the troops of Walker, Cheatham, and Cleburne, continued 
a doubtful conflict until night. 

Gen. Bragg prepared for a general action the next day, divid- 
ing his force into two commands, the left under Longstreet, the 
right under Polk — the latter being ordered to commence at day- 
light the attack, which was to be taken up in succession rapidly to 
the left. These orders were not promptly obeyed ; Gen. Polk was 



GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG: 301 

dilatory, and excused himself by another alleged instance of D. H. 
Hill's disobedience of orders ; and the battle was not commenced un- 
til ten o'clock, when Bragg, chafing under delays which the enemy 
was busily improving in strengthening his position, and exclaim- 
ing that his Generals would not obey him, directed one of his aides 
to ride along the line and order the company officers to take their 
men into action. The action opened by a forward movement of 
Breckinridge, followed and accompanied by Cleburne. These 
divisions were driven back with heavy loss, and the right wing of 
the Confederates was evidently in distress. Longstreet, however, 
held his ground on the left ; and the battle fluctuated until the de- 
scending sun warned Gen. Bragg that if he hoped for victory he 
should improve the hours by a grand and decisive movement. 

The whole Confederate line was then revised and posted, and a 
forward movement in all its length ordered. The right swung 
round with an extended sweep, with its firm supports, and the left 
rallied once more to the charge of the works, before which it had 
suffered so severely in the morning. Never did troops move up 
to their work with more resolution ; the daring Breckinridge, with 
his Kentuckians and Louisianians, and Cleburne, with his Arkan- 
sians and Alabamians, and Walker, with his South Carolinians, 
Mississippians, and Georgians, and Cheatham, with his Tennes- 
seeans, all moved forward in one mighty tide, amidst the thunders 
of some twenty batteries, and the roar of thousands of muskets 
and rifles. On the left, at the same time, Longstreet's veteran di- 
visions, that had firmly held the day, gained the line that had been 
obstinately contested, and now swept on in magnificent array 
with the continuous shout of victory. The scene was one of sur- 
passing sublimity and grandeur. Sweeping forward, as the flood of 
a mighty river, the attack carried everything before it, nothing 
being able to stand in the resistless line of its path. The enemy's 
works, which opposed such a stubborn resistance in the morning, 
succumbed before the on-moving torrent ; and the brave men of 
Cleburne's division, which had been repulsed in the morning, had, 
by their extraordinary gallantry in the evening, the opportunity 
of avenging the experiences of the earlier part of the day. The 
whole field was carried triumphantly, and the enemy driven as 
chaff before the wind. 

As night fell, the troops were halted and th.e pursuit abandoned. 



302 GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 

Of the alleged neglect of Gen. Bragg to follow up his victory, a 
writer in the Richmond ^V^l^g^ who has graphically described, and 
ingeniously criticised this battle, says: "Panic, confusion, dis- 
order, became the condition of an army which had never before 
acknowledged defeat, and which for two days had been contesting 
every inch of ground with valour the most obstinate. And what 
did the Confederate commander do? Did he pursue an enemy 
thus demoralized, and furnished, by his not forming his line of 
battle at right angles with his actual line, with opportunity of re- 
treat upon Chattanooga, whose possession was the object of the 
campaign — an enemy not only demoralized, but encumbered with 
heavy trains, and no mode of exit, save through two gaps of Mis- 
sionary Ridge, a mountain ? No. Night had set in, and he deemed 
it prudent to halt, notwithstanding his men were eager for pursuit, 
and a brilliant moon furnished almost the light of day. Three 
hours were lost in the morning by Polk's failure to attack at day- 
light; and, therefore, the condition of the troops was such as to 
forbid the possibility of pursuit. But granting that reasons, sub- 
stantive reasons, existed for not pursuing on Sunday night, what 
hindered the Commander-in-Chief from pursuing on Monday morn- 
ing at daylight? Chattanooga was only ten miles from the bnttle- 
field, and unfortified; our pursuing cavalry could see the head of 
their column, and urged Gen. Bragg by repeated messages to 
pursue ; that every hour's delay would be equal to the loss of a 
thousand men. Citizens along the road reported that many of 
their commands passed their dwellings in the utmost disorder, 
without arms or accoutrements, and many without hats, as a con- 
fused and routed mob, not as troops in column, everything in 
Chattanooga and on the road inviting rather than forbidding at- 
tack. Even if they had good defensive works, with the condition 
as reported above, by a prompt pursuit our army would have gone 
into Chattanooga with theirs, and thus broken the effect of their 
fire; and if such would have been the result of good defensive 
works, what might not the result have been without them, and the 
enemy panic-stricken because of the knowledge that none such 
existed ? What hindered Gen. Bragg from pursuing is not known ; 
but it is known that while pursuit seems to have been invited, he 
did not pursue, and not pursuing, what did he do on Monday 
morning? He first sent out detachments to the battle-field to 



GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 303 

gather up the fruits of victory, in arms, large and small, to be se- 
cured and sent to the rear, and caused the captured banners to be 
collected to be sent to Richmond, and prisoners to be counted and 
sent to the rear. He then ordered the troops under arms, and 
marched them down the Chattanooga road until they came near to 
Eossville, where Forrest and Pegram were thundering away with 
their batteries at the retreating enemy, there had them filed to the 
right, and thrown down the Chickarnauga Creek, that they might 
rest from their fatigues and be in good position to move upon 
Burnside or flank Rosecrans, as further contingencies might dictate." 

The enemy's immediate losses in the battle were large. It was 
oflQcially stated by Gen. Bragg that he captured over eight thousand 
prisoners, fifty-one pieces of artillery, and fifteen thousand stand 
of small-arms. But whatever the value of these fruits, and what- 
ever the merit of the criticism we have just quoted above, it is 
certain that the victory won by Gen. Bragg, although in some 
respects the most brilliant of the war, was without substantial 
results, as it did not recover Chattanooga, and thus left the enemy 
with the key of Eastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia in his 
hands. After this battle it was proposed by Gen, Longstreet to 
cross the Tennessee and move upon Nashville ; but Gen. Bragg 
rejected this plan of campaign, and determined to invest Chatta- 
nooga, and starve the enemy out. This difference of views was the 
occasion of an unfortunate and violent quarrel between Gen. Bragg 
and Gen. Longstreet, which, by its constant and fretful appeals to 
the War Department at Richmond, probably had some effect in 
leading to that ill-timed detachment of Longstreet's command to 
operate against Knoxville, which ultimately exposed Bragg to one 
of the worst defeats of the war. 

While Bragg's force at Missionary Ridge was reduced by Long- 
street's expedition to take Knoxville, the enemy was pursuing a 
policy quite the reverse. Gen. Grant had been appointed by the 
government at Washington to take command of the Mississippi 
Department; and executing his favourite plan of superiour numbers, 
he had brought to Chattanooga two corps from the Army of the 
Potomac, and called Sherman, with the Yicksburg army, from 
Memphis, at the very time Bragg was reducing his force, and 
meditating the side-operation of driving Burnside out of East 
Tennessee. 



304 GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG, 

On the 25tli November, Grant prepared for his grand assault 
on Missionary Ridge, with not less than eighty-five thousand 
veteran troops. Although Bragg did not have half these numbers, 
the strength of his position might have compensated for this inferior- 
ity, had his troops fought with their usual spirit. On the conduct 
of this disastrous engagement, President Davis remarked with great 
severity in a message to Congress : " After a long and severe battle, 
in which great carnage was inflicted on the enemy, some of our 
troops inexplicably abandoned positions of great strength, and, by 
a disorderly retreat, compelled the commander to withdraw the 
forces elsewhere successful, and finally to retire with his whole 
army to a position some twenty or thirty miles to the rear. It is 
believed that if the troops who yielded to the assault had fought 
with the valour which they had displayed on previous occasions, 
and which was manifested in this battle on the other parts of the 
line, the enemy would have been repulsed with very great slaughter, 
and our country would have escaped the misfortune, and the army 
the mortification of" the first defeat that has resulted from miscon- 
duct by the troops." 

On the night of the 25th November, Bragg was in full retreat, 
and all of his strong positions on Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga 
Valley, and Missionary Ridge, were in the hands of the enemy. His 
army was put in motion on the road to Ringgold, and thence to 
Dalton. He had lost six thousand prisoners, and forty pieces of 
artillery ; but the enemy desisted from pursuit, and the campaign 
of 1863, in the West, may be said to have closed on the northern 
frontier of Georgia.* 



* The decline of Gen. Bragg's fortune was promptly insulted by the enemy, and 
was the occasion of the usual witticisms of the Northern journals. We copy the lines 
below, not for any merit we can possibly discover in the uncouth arrangement of 
words, but as a specimen of that large part of Northern literature in the war, which 
was occupied with libel, caricature, and scurrilous wit : 

Headquartbhs, Tullahoma, 1863. 

I hate, my boy Wheeler, old Abe's apparatus, 

Of hemp garlands twisted to choke our afflatus. 

Cease to rove where that Stanley the devil is playing, 

Nor scout near the spot where " Old Bosy " is staying. 

Fort Donelson's sold to Uncle Sam, 

For " bloodhounds " can't butt with a Federal ram. 



. GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 305 

In December, Gen. Bragg wrote to Eichmond, asking to be 
relieved, and acknowledging his defeat; and he declared that he 
would have to fall still further back, if the enemy pressed him 
vigorously. Happily the enemy did not know this, for at the 
moment the letter was written. Grant was falling back to Chatta- 
nooga. In relinquishing his command, Gen. Bragg exhorted his 
army in tiie usual style, appeared to forget all causes of recrimina- 
tion, and declared that it had " the blessings and prayers of a 
grateful friend." 

He withdrew for some time from all military duty to recruit his 
health. But he soon appeared before the public again in the follow- 
ing appointment: 

Adjutant and Inspector-Geneeal's Office, 
Richmond, Va., February 24, 1864. 

Gen. Braxton Bragg is assigned to duty at the seat of govern- 
ment, and, under the direction of the President, is charged with the 
conduct of military operations in the armies of the Confederacy. 
By order. 

S. Cooper, Adjutant Inspector- General. 

This office has been much misunderstood, was popularly over- 
rated, and by its high-sounding terms captivated public attention. 
But it was really nothing more than the same that had been given 
Gen. Lee before the battles of Richmond, a sort of supernumerary, 
not very honourable, and best described as " military adviser " of 
the President. The appointee shared something of the duties of the 
Secretary of War, but in all respects was subservient to the 
President. The Richmond Enquirer, which had very unfavourably 
criticised Gen. Bragg's campaigns, and considered that his mind 
had found an appropriate field of usefulness in this new appoint- 
ment, had the following remarks, explaining the nature of the 
office, and defining its limits : " Gen. Bragg has been assigned to 
duty in Richmond, as consulting and advisory General. We regard 

My aedulous care is to make my escape, 
And drink myself tight with a " little more grape." 
Tou're rather Lowe-flung, and have shown the white rag, 
And I'm nearly played out — 

Tour old friend, 

Braxton Bragmj. 

20 



30 G GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 

the appointment as one very proper, and believe that it will conduce 
to the advancement and promotion of the cause. Gen. Bragg has 
unquestionable abilities, which eminently fit him for such a respon- 
sible position. The country will be pleased to see his experience 
and information made use of by the President. Ilis patriotism and 
zeal for the public service are fully recognized and appreciated by 
his countrymen. The duties of the commander in-chief, who, under 
the constitution, can be no other than the President, are most ardu- 
ous, and require much aid and assistance, as well as ability and 
experience. Gen. Bragg has acquired, by long service, that prac- 
tical experience necessary to the position to which he is assigned 
by the general order published in to-day's Enquirer. 

" An erroneous impression obtains as to the nature of this 
appointment of Gen. Bragg. He is not, and cannot be commander- 
in-chief The constitution of the Confederate States makes the 
President the commander-in-chief. Gen. Bragg is detailed for duty 
in Richmond ' under ' the President. He does not rank Gen. Lee, 
nor Gen. Johnston. He cannot command or direct them, except 
*by command of the President.' His appointment has been made 
with the knowledge and approval of Gens. Cooper, Lee, Johnston, 
and Beauregard, all his superiours in rank, who, knowing and 
appreciating the usefulness and ability of Gen. Bragg, concur in 
his appointment by the President." 

The last field service of Gen. Bragg was in North Carolina. 
He was appointed to take command at "Wilmington, at the time 
Fort Fisher was threatened by Porter's fleet, and a second expedi- 
tion of land forces, under Gen. Terry. The enemy having effected 
a landing so as to flank Bragg's forces on the peninsula, he declined 
an attack, and withdrew to Wilmington, but not until he had 
heavily reinforced the garrison of the fort, which was left to make 
the decisive battle under Gen. Whiting. The result was that the 
fort was captured, and that Wilmington was subsequently evacu- 
ated ; Gen. Bragg putting his little army, less than five thousand 
men, in motion to join Gen. Johnston, who was endeavouring to 
collect a force on the front of Sherman, who had made preparations 
for a movement on Goldsboro, in two columns, one from Wilming- 
ton, and one from Newbern, in conjunction with his main body, 
desiwnins; to concentrate there all of his forces. On the 8th March, 
1865, Gen. Bragg struck the column moving from Newbern at a 



GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 307 

point near Kinston, and attacked it with his own troops and a 
small division of the Army of Tennessee, taking fifteen hundred 
prisoners. He was unable, however, to follow up his advantage; 
and the junction of Sherman and Schofield at Goldsboro was deci- 
sive of the campaign, the close of which was expedited by the 
news of Gen. Lee's surrender in Virginia, and involved the gene- 
ral conclusion of the war. 

Since the war Gen. Bragg has retired very closely from public 
attention, and is said to be cultivating a plantation in Alabama. 
From our brief narrative the reader will doubtless obtain some 
means of judging the much-vexed question of his generalship; for 
it is not to be denied that there is much in it open to criticism. 
But the biographer, who estimates the whole life of the man, would 
do wrong to confine it to such a question of ability, and not give 
credit for the virtues and affections which make up the sum of 
character, and are themselves titles to admiration and praise. 
Whether Gen. Bragg was or was not an able commander, it is 
certain that he was pure, incorruptible, fearless, and so ardent in 
his Southern patriotism that he never omitted a sentiment for his 
country in any order he ever wrote ; and indeed he used such noble 
and appropriate language in these expressions that we are easily 
led to the imagination that he would have been distinguished as a 
politician, if his life had been inclined to civil employments. Much 
of his undeniable unpopularity in the army is to be ascribed to his 
extraordinary rigour and integrity as a disciplinarian, and, in this 
_^ respect, he gave an example which, if followed by other Confed- 
erate commanders, would have been of more ultimate service to 
the cause than many victories in the field. With him desertion 
was the capital military crime, and not, as some practically made 
it, a sort of license of the volunteer soldier, to be checked by moral 
persuasions and patriotic appeals. He shot his men for acts of 
insubordination, which would have merited death in any well-regu- 
lated army. Many foolish and extravagant stories were told of his 
rigour. One of these, related by Mr. Foote in the Confederate 
Congress, with an abundance of comment, was, that he had exe- 
ci^ted three soldiers iov firing into afix)ck of chickens on the line of 
their march ! The facts were, that Gen. Bragg was making a move- 
ment at the time in close proximity to the enemy's lines ; that the 
report of a musket endangered the safety of the whole army ; that 



308 GENERAL BRAXTON BRAGG. 

the troops had been so warned ; and that the men who fired, and 
risked an alarm that put the whole army in peril, were instantly 
and properly executed. The personal appearance of the commander 
was unusually stern and military ; he had few intimate friendships ; 
and he sometimes gave offence to his officers by an occasional 
acerbity of manner. But whatever the fault of his head, or the 
unpleasantness of his exteriour, no one ever doubted that Gen. 
Braxton Bragg was one of the most single-minded patriots of the 
army, and would have freely given his life, on numberless occa- 
sions, to serve the cause of his country. 



I 




Eas* B.B.Hall.B.T. 



ijijraved erjrressly for lee aud. Ms Liaulenajats" 
E.B.Ireat f^ CoRjiUshers. Wt Tttoiins^. Nra-Toifc. 



MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 



CHAPTER XXYI. 

Anomaly of the Missouri Campaign. — Early Life of Sterling Price. — Governor of 
Missouri. — His Politics. — Formation of " The Missouri State Guard." — Personal 
appearance of the Commander. — His correspondence with Gen. Harney. — Affair 
at Booneville. — Gen. Price reinforced by Gens. McCulloch and Pearce. — Battle 
of Oak HDl or "Wilson's Creek. — Gen. Price's movement upon Lexington. — His 
success. — Designs against St. Louis. — Why they were abandoned. — Retreat of the 
Patriot Army of Missouri. — The State joins the Southern Confederacy. — Gen. 
Price's Proclamation at Neosho. 

Wherever the history of the American War is known, the names 
of Sterling Price and " The Missouri Guard" are remarkable. The 
romantic theatre on which he fought, the anomaly of the Missouri 
campaign, and its striking exceptions to all the ordinary rules and 
common apprehensions of military science, constitute a theme of 
unfailing interest and wondering criticism, peculiar and remarkable, 
even in a war replete with new operations and startling episodes. 

Sterling Price was a native of "Virginia, nutrix leonum ; but all 
his adult honours are claimed by the noble State of Missouri, with 
the flower of whose manhood, led to battle, he adorned his reputa- 
tion, binding up the fame of commander and of troops in a com- 
mon story of heroism. Indeed, as subjects of admiration, the 
commander and his troops cannot be separated ; and if he was a 
hero, so too were the unbought soldiers who fought under his ban- 
ners, and gave an illustration of manhood unsurpassed in the war. 

He was born in Prince Edward County, Yirginia, on the 14th 
September, 1809. At the proper age, after passing through a 
course of home training and schooling, he was sent to Hampden 
Sydney College, where he went through the then usual course of 
study. Upon returning home, or soon thereafter, in order to ac- 



310 MAJOR GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

quire a good knowledge of practical business, he engaged as a 
deputy in the Clerk's Office of his native county. Here he remained 
two years, and until he was twenty-one years of age. Of an enter- 
prising disposition, he determined to emigrate to theWest. Missouri, 
as being chiefly peopled by Kentuckians and Virginians, seemed 
to him to afford the best opening and to promise the most con- 
genial associations. He arrived in the State in the year 1830, 
when the city of St. Louis was but little more than a depot for the 
trade with the Indians, and when, with the exception of St. Gene- 
vieve, Vide Poche, St. Charles, and a few other villages founded 
by early French adventurers, the population of the State was 
extremely sparse, and scattered. He determined to settle in the 
central portion of the State — the region then known as the Boone's 
Lick County (so called after Daniel Boone, of historic renown, who 
died in that region), and now included in the counties of Howard 
and Chariton. Chariton became ultimately his permanent res- 
idence. Soon after his abode was fixed he received an appoint- 
ment as Brigadier-General of the militia of the State — conferred in 
consequence of his known taste for military service. 

From his earliest manhood Gen. Price espoused the principles 
of the Democratic party — that Democracy which had Madison and 
Jefferson for its founders, and so many illustrious men since as its 
expounders. He was, in short, a Democrat who believed in the 
sovereignty of the State, the limitation of the action of the Federal 
Government to the powers expressly granted, and the sovereignty 
of the people within their respective Sto.tes. During his life since, 
he has not departed from the creed of his youth. With these prin- 
ciples, and because of them, he was selected by his fellow-citizens, 
in the year 1836, to represent them in the General Assembly. In 
that body he was never noisy or demonstrative ; but always the 
practical and useful member, taking care to understand the nature 
and bearing of all proposed legislation, and labouring to advance 
in all respects the public interest. He was again elected a repre- 
sentative in 1840 and 1842, and became the Speaker of the House 
each session, a position which he filled with ability, decision, dig- 
nity, and discretion. 

In 1844, he was elected to Congress. In this body he acted 
always with the Democratic party, keeping his seat until tlie occur- 
rence of the war with Mexico. This event opened to him the field 



MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 311 

of action for which he was most decidedly inclined, and certainly 
best qualified. He immediately resigned his seat in Congress, and 
raised a regiment for the war. The details of his operations in 
New Mexico and Chihuahua, where he had an independent com- 
mand, are to be found in the official reports. He fought the enemy 
successfully at Cancada, Lambonda, Taos, and against largely su- 
perior forces. At Taos, with three hundred men, he captured the 
garrison, took 1500 prisoners and vast munitions of war. For 
these services he was promoted by President Polk to the rank of 
Brigadier-General. He then moved upon Chihuahua. At Santa 
Cruz de Rosales, he met and gave battle to Gen. Trias, who had a 
force of double his own numbers. The fight resulted in the cap- 
ture of the enemy and all his munitions, which were considerable. 

A few days prior to this battle a treaty of peace with Mexico 
had been signed. This was indeed the last battle of the war. 
Upon his return to Missouri, Price's troops were mustered out at 
Independence. In his campaign he had undoubtedly shown con- 
siderable military abilities, and all those generous and magnani- 
mous qualities which deeply attach the soldier to his leader and 
commander. 

At the next general election after his return from New Mexico, 
Gen. Price was made Governor of the State by a majority of over 
15,000 votes. This was the more honourable in consequence of the 
peculiar circumstances under which he was nominated by the Demo- 
cratic party. The position which Col. Benton, the oldest and by 
far the most distinguished leader in the party, assumed in relation 
to the power of Congress, over the subject of slavery, had divided 
the party into two sections, which were rapidly becoming more 
hostile to each other than to their common opponents, the Whigs. 
It was certain that if the party remained divided its whole power 
and usefulness as a segment of the great party of the nation would 
not only be neutralized, but that the minority of the people would 
actually wield all the influence which the majority should properly 
possess and enjoy. Under such circumstance thoughtful men in 
both divisions of the party saw the absolute necessity of a reunion. 
To effect this purpose a State convention was called. In that body 
the two divisions were fully and fairly represented. In such cases 
it happens that dissensions are far more apt to be engendered by 
personal ambitions and jealousies than by party differences. The 



312 MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

important and indeed indispensable necessity was to find a guberna- 
torial candidate who could, without sacrifice of principle, inspire 
confidence in both sections, and to whose personal character none 
could take exception. Gen. Price was that man, and it is certain 
no one else in Missouri could have so fully united the party. 

As the Executive of the State all parties then and since have 
concurred in the conviction that he was the best the State ever 
had. Firm, dignified, calm, and deliberate, he did nothing hastily 
or in passion, or prejudice. In all that concerned the honour and 
the interests of the State he took care to inform himself thoroughly, 
and to act with energy and promptitude. There are few who do 
not now admit that all his recommendations for legislation were 
wise and prudent, and that in all cases where legislation was ad- 
verse to his views — especially in reference to the finances and to 
railroads — the consequences have been greatly detrimental to the 
State and people. He retired from this high position far more 
popular than when he entered upon it, giving an extraordinary 
and rare evidence of his merits. 

Upon the election of Abraham Lincoln, the State of Missouri 
called a convention, of which Price, being regarded as the ablest 
parliamentarian in the State, was elected President, on an avowal 
of sentiments of attachment and devotion to the Union. Indeed, 
on the first summons of the convention not a single secessionist 
could be found in it ; and the almost universal sentiment of the 
State of Missouri was an unwillingness to rush into a dissolution 
of the Union, until every hope of a peaceful settlement of the 
question had vanished. Throughout the deliberations of the con- 
vention, of which he was President, and up to the very moment 
when he found the programme of that body was the abolition of 
slavery, and military coercion on the part of the General Govern- 
ment, Price had upheld the Union of the States, and the integrity of 
the Constitution, as one and the same thing, and indestructible so 
long as the organic law was sustained. Secession he ever main- 
tained as a heresy; but the government he considered a contract 
between the States, to be broken by the inherent right of revolution. 
At this point he conceived the Constitution had been infringed, its 
obvious precepts annulled, the Southern States, as a consequence, to 
be oppressed, and their rights long recognized to be taken from them. 
He could not long hesitate to enlist his earnest nature on the side 



MAJOR GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 313 

of right, when all efforts at adjustment had proved abortive, when 
the cry of blood was raised in the land, and when the Government 
at Washington had plainly put on the aspect and panoply of war. 

It was in May, 1861, after the development of the coercive 
policy of President Lincoln, that under a law of Missouri, the 
State Guard was formed, with Sterling Price as Major-General 
commanding. 

Although the new Major- General of Missouri had not received 
the benefit of a West Point education (a condition which President 
Davis, himself a graduate of that strait school, seemed to consider 
the sine qua non in the dispensation of his Executive favours), yet 
his strong native powers and quick presence of mind gave him 
aptitude for war, which was rapidly developed in the campaign 
through which he served. He had a commanding presence ; his 
plain, hearty manners endeared him to the populace; and the 
strength and virtue of his personal character, the Cato-like purity 
of his life, gave him influence over all classes of men. He was 
over six feet in height, wath a frame to match ; full, but not portly, 
and as straight as a son of the forest. His carriage was marked 
with dignity, grace, and gentleness, and every motion bespoke the 
attitude and presence of the well-bred gentleman. He had a large 
head, covered with a growth of thick, white hair, a high, broad, 
intellectual forehead, florid face, no beard, and a mouth in whose 
latent smiles lurked the good-humour of the man, while its 
straight and clearly cut line bespoke the precise mind and the 
exacting will. 

Gen. Price promptly accepted the command of the Missouri 
troops tendered by Governor Claiborne F. Jackson, and issued 
immediate orders for organization. But before appealing to arms, 
he made earnest efforts for compromise and peace, in which he was 
met by Gen. Harney, of the Federal service, as far as the Washing- 
ton Government would permit him to go. The infatuated ferocity 
of that government precipitated a war which lost Missouri to the 
North. 

The agreement with Gen. Harney was to secure the public 
peace of Missouri by a disbandment of forces, and on mutual 
recommendations to the citizens to abstain from violence. While 
Gen. Price proceeded to carry out his part of such agreement, the 
Federal Government abrogated it on their side. Captain, afterwards 



814 MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

Gen. Lyon, was placed in command of the Federal troops. Camp 
Jackson at St. Louis was captured, Jefferson City was marched 
upon, and evacuated by Price, who retired to Booneville. Here 
he prepared for resistance. Troops, volunteers, flocked in, impro- 
vised for the occasion, raw, undisciplined and unarmed, except 
with the common fowling-piece of the country, and such ammuni- 
tion as could be hastily provided. 

From this place the little patriot command, after fighting with 
small losses a largely superiour Federal force, retreated, under Col. 
Marmaduke, towards southwestern Missouri — Gen. Price being 
prostrated by sickness, and removed to Lexington, whence he 
rejoined his command at Cowskin Prairie. At this rendezvous he 
raised and received recruits, until by the last of July, 1861, he had 
partially armed and equipped about six thousand men. Without 
a quarter-master, commissary, ordnance or medical bureau, no 
treasury, no arms, no ammunition, save the double-barrel shot 
gun and squirrel rifle, the powder-horn and shot-pouch of the 
sportsman, he organized this most unpromising force, with which 
to bid desperate defiance to the well-appointed armies of the United 
States. 

Here, however, the patriot army of Missouri was reinforced by 
^ome Arkansas State troops under Gen. Pearce, and by Brig.-Gen. 
McCulloch of the Confederate army, acting under the orders of 
Gen. Leonidas Polk, then commanding the Mississippi Department. 
Information was soon obtained here that the pursuing Federal 
columns, Lyon's, Sigel's, and others, had formed a junction at 
Springfield, where they numbered some 12,000 or 15,000 men, well- 
armed, disciplined, and counting among them a heavy force of 
United States regulars of all arms. Gen. Price was at once for 
marching to meet this formidable force, in which view, however, 
he was obstructed by McCulloch, who claimed by his Confederate 
commission to be superiour in command. The latter seemed to 
distrust volunteers, to fear the nerve of the hardy Missourian, and 
laughed at the confident pretensions of the shot-gun and rifle, con- 
trasting them with the regular soldier, and well-appointed arms 
and equijiment of the United States. Gen. Price, on the contrary, 
well knew the enterprise and spirit of the volunteer patriots around 
him; he well knew the effectiveness of "buck and ball;" he well 
knew the rough and broken country with its dense chapparal ; he 



MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 315 

■well knew the vital importance of talcing time by the forelock, and 
preventing a reinforcement at Springfield. He had faith in his 
own State, and hope and love of country and military prescience, 
animated him to consider defeat an impossibility. Forgetful of 
self, he relinquished to McCulloch the chief command (although 
Missouri had not yet joined the Southern Confederacy, and her 
troops were therefore independent of its authority), when he found 
that this sensitive and exacting commander made it the condition 
of joining in an attack upon the enemy. 

About the first of August, the heterogeneous army commenced 
its march towards Springfield. Not only were Price's men defi- 
cient in weapons, but when the march commenced, the commissary 
and quartermaster's departments, but recently organized, proved 
very indifferent, and it was seldom the men drew full rations. 
They made up for all deficiencies, however, by the scanty habits 
of their life, and by every crude expedient the imagination could 
suggest. They gathered corn wherever they could, pounded it 
between rocks until reduced to powder, and then made bread. 
Hogs were plentiful, as also beef cattle ; and farmers, being friendly 
to the cause, willingly sold all things for Confederate paper, so that 
it much relieved the commissariat, and eased the line of march. 
McCulloch, with his small column, led the way ; Pearce of 
Arkansas followed ; and last came the hero and patriot, Sterling 
Price, with his ragged, half-fed, and ill-armed band of Missourians. 

On the 8th August, the Confederates and their allies camped 
at Wilson's Creek, about ten miles south of Springfield. McCul- 
loch halted his advance on the right of the road, supported by 
Pearce, while Price was on the left of it ; and thoughtless of dan- 
ger — in fact, never dreaming of Lyon-being in the vicinity at all — 
threw out no pickets. The next morning, when McCulloch was 
quietly taking his breakfast at Price's headquarters, a courier 
arrived from Gen. Raines, who held the extreme outpost on the 
North, announcing that the enemy were in sight and in great 
force. McCulloch seemed to doubt the accuracy of this report, 
and continued his breakfast coolly ; another messenger in haste 
came in, and stated that a heavy body of the enemy were advanc- 
ing on Gen. Raines, but that he would hold his position as long as 
possible. Still McCulloch seemed incredulous. Gen. Price said 
to him with much excitement : " Gen. McCulloch, have you no 



816 MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

orders to give ? " Turning to the courier, McCulloch said: "Go 
to Gen. Eaines ; tell him to ascertain all the facts, and report to me 
at headquarters." No longer able to restrain himself, Gen. Price 
struck his hand heavily upon the table, and in a voice of thunder 
said to his staff: "Gentlemen, to your horses!" Instantly all 
arose and hurried away. They had no time to lose, for hardly 
had they reached the open air before a shot from Sigel's batteries 
on the south, darted into the camp. 

It was a surprise on all sides of the camp. While McCulloch 
stemmed the storm on the right and rear, Lyon was pushing Price 
with great vigour in the centre and left. It was only by the most 
reckless devotion of his own person, his commanding cheers to his 
hard}^ woodsmen, and his repeated presence within fifty yards of 
the deadly muskets of the enemy, that Gen. Price was enabled to 
save the day on this part of the field. It ended in one of the most 
signal victories of the war. Gen. Lyon falling dead on the field, 
and the Federal loss in killed and wounded being fully one-half 
greater than that of the allies — Price and McCulloch. 

Shortly after the battle of Wilson's Creek, McCulloch decided 
to retire his force to Arkansas, refusing to unite in other enter- 
prises of Gen, Price, who was now left alone to conduct the cam- 
paign in Missouri. From friendly refugees constantly arriving in. 
camp, it was ascertained beyond a doubt that Fremont was strongly 
fortifying all important cities on the Missouri River, to serve as a 
safe base of operations, whence supplies could be easily transported 
into the interiour by wagon-trains or boats. Lexington, held by 
Colonel Mulligan and a heavy force, was known to be strongly 
fortified, and being on high ground, it commanded all approaches 
from the interiour, while the river was kept open for the transit of 
any number of troops from St. Louis. Price determined to march 
forward and attack it, but was informed that large bands of out- 
laws from Kansas, under General Jim Lane and others, were de- 
vastating the whole country on his left flank, and threatened to get 
in his rear. Suddenly diverging from his proper route. Price sent 
Raines and Parsons up in that direction, with a small force of deter- 
mined men ; and so secretly was the expedition conducted, that they 
unexpectedly came upon Lane at a creek called Drywood, and after 
a confused fight of some hours, drove the enemy from the field, 
pushed forward to their headquarters at Fort Scott, and captured it. 



MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 317 

Joining the column under Price again, the army of five thousand 
effectives and five guns pushed forward towards Lexington, and 
arrived in the vicinity on the 13th September. It was the object 
to take Lexington, with its garrison of about 4,000 men, before it 
could be reinforced by Fremont. Gren. Price might have taken it 
by a charge, but he Was content with a slower progress; and was 
quite satisfied to make one of the most brilliant captures of the 
Trans-Mississippi campaign, with a loss of only 74 men killed and 
wounded — fighting for two days and a half. 

Gen. Price bore a testimony to the heroic endurance of his 
army which deserves to be recorded. He said : " The victory has 
demonstrated the fitness of our citizen soldiery for the tedious 
operations of a siege as well as for a dashing charge. They lay 
for fifty -two hours in the open air without tents or covering, re- 
gardless of the sun and rain, and in the presence of a watch- 
ful and desperate foe, manfully repelling every assault and pa- 
tiently awaiting my orders to storm the fortifications. No General 
ever commanded a braver or better army. It is composed of the 
best blood and the bravest men of Missouri." 

So far the bold and brilliant movements of the campaign in 
Missouri drew attention from more important theatres of the war, 
and constituted a theme of wonder and admiration that arrested 
the public mind, and was the occasion of criticism in all parts of 
the world. Price's men had marched and fought with an endur- 
ance and courage that rendered them worthy of the name of 
heroes. The thanks of the Confederate Congress were tendered 
to "Gen. Price and the Missouri Army under his command, for 
the gallant conduct they had displayed throughout their service, 
and especially for the skill, fortitude, and courage, by which they 
gained the brilliant achievement at Lexington." There had been 
no such phenomenon in the war : it was a new apparition of mili- 
tary science to see a man flying with a few hundred retainers 
across his State, an empire in itself, almost from one corner of it 
to another, before a victorious and thoroughly appointed army ; 
raising in a few weeks a force of 5,000 men ; arming, equipping, 
and feeding them, without resources, but from captured stores of 
the enemy ; winning a great battle by his own genius and head- 
long courage ; establishing his popularity in the hearts of his 



318 MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

command ; marching back to Lis starting point, and capturing an 
army and its entire outfit by an unconditional surrender. 

It bad been Gen. Price's design not to repose on the victory of 
Lexington ; but obtaining supplies and recruits, to sweep down 
upon St. Louis, uniting with Maj.-Gen. Polk and his Confederate 
forces. But the progress of this brilliant conception was unex- 
pectedly checked: — first, by the order to Gen. Polk from the 
"War Department for the Tennessee campaign ; secondly by Price's 
failure to receive a large supply of ammunition from Brig.-Gen. 
McCulloch according to promise. He could not move upon St. 
Louis for the want of cooperation by Gen. Polk; he could not 
remain where he was, for the want of ammunition, threatened by 
Sturges on the north, and Fremont on the south. There were 
not three rounds of percussion-caps to the man. Hence he was 
forced to evacuate the place, and retreat towards Springfield, not 
even having time to organize fully ten or twelve thousand volun- 
teers, who were then read}' to enlist under his banner. 

On the 20th August, 1861, the Confederate Congress, at Rich- 
mond, passed an act, one section of which admitted the State of 
Missouri as a member of the Confederacy, upon an equal footing 
with the other States under the Constitution for the Provisional 
Government, upon condition that the said Constitution should be 
adopted and ratified by the properly and legally constituted author- 
ities of the State. Another section recognized the Government, 
of which Claiborne F. Jackson was the chief magistrate, in Mis- 
souri, to be the legally elected and regularly constituted Govern- 
ment of the people and State, and authorized the President of the 
Confederate States, at any time prior to her full admission, to form 
with her a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive. 

Gen. Price, with his army, entered the town of Neosho, in New- 
ton county, early in November. On the second day of that month 
the Legislature had here assembled, by proclamation of Governor 
Jackson. The attendance was full ; twenty-three members of the 
upper, and seventy-seven of the lower house being present, and 
with entire unanimity they passed an act of secession from the 
Federal Union, adopted the Provisional Constitution of the Con- 
federate States, and initiated such measures as would perfect the 
union between their State and her sisters of the South. 

From Neosho, Gen. Price marched to Cassville, in Barry County, 



MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 319 

and thence to McDonald County, in the extreme southwestern angle 
of the State. Here he rested and recruited his army, and then 
again moved northward. On the 80th November, from Neosho, 
he issued a stirring proclamation, calling volunteers to his camp. 
He called for iSfty thousand men, according to the first summons 
of the Governor, and promised with this force to liberate Missouri 
surely and speedily. The language of the appeal was ardent, and 
characteristic of the man. " In the month of June last," he 
wrote, " I was called to the command of a handful of Missourians, 
who nobly gave up home and comforts to espouse in that gloomy 
hour the cause of your bleeding country, struggling with the most 
heartless and cruel despotism known among civilized men. When 
peace and protection could no longer be enjoyed but at the price 
of honour and liberty, your chief magistrate called for fifty 
thousand men to drive the ruthless invaders from a soil made fruit- 
ful by your labours, and consecrated by your homes. And to 
that call less than five thousand responded out of a male popula- 
tion exceeding two hundred thousand. One in forty only stepped 
forward to defend with their persons and their lives the cause of 
constitutional liberty and human rights. Some allowances are to 
be made on the face of the want of military organization, a sup- 
posed want of arms, the necessary retreat of the army southward, 
the blockade of the river, and the presence of an armed and or- 
ganized foe. But nearly six months have now elapsed * * * 
I must have fifty thousand men. Now is the crisis of your fate; 
now is the golden opportunity to save the State ; now is the time 
for your political salvation. The time of the enlistment of our brave 
bands is beginning to expire. Do not hold their patience beyond 
endurance. Do not longer sicken their hearts by hopes deferred. 
Boys and small property-holders have in the main fought the 
battles for the protection of your property, and when they ask, 
where are the men for whom we are fighting, how can I explain, my 
fellow-citizens ? I call upon you, by every consideration of in- 
terest, by every desire of safety, by every tie that binds you to 
home and country, delay no longer. Let the dead bury the dead. 
Leave your property to take care of itself. Come to the Army of 
the Missouri — not for a week, or a month, but to free your country. 

" ' Strike, till each armed foe expires 1 
Strike, for your country's altar fires I 



320 MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

Strike, for the green graves of your sires, 
God and your native landl ' 

Be yours the office to choose between the glory of a free country 
and a just government, or the bondage of your children. I, at 
least, will never see the chains fastened upon my country. I will 
ask for six and a half feet of Missouri soil on which to repose, 
for I will not live to see my people enslaved. Are you coming ? 
Fifty thousand men of Missouri shall move to victory with the 
tread of a giant. Come on, my brave fifty thousand heroes — gal- 
lant, unconquerable Southern men ! We await your coming." 



MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 321 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Gen. Price at the head of ten thousand men. — McCuUoch refuses to cooperate. — 
Admirable retreat of Price's army to Boston Mountains.— Hardihood of his troops. 
— A message from Gen. Hallock. — Gen. Van Dom appointed Confederate Com- 
mander of the Trans-MississippL — Battle of Elk Horn. — Its importance. — Hero- 
ism of Gen. Price on the field. — The Missouri troops cross the Mississippi River, 
— Gen. Price's eloquent address to " the State Guard." 

The response to Gen. Price's glowing appeal to the patriotism 
of Missouri, was not what the commander expected and required ; 
but yet it was sufficient to inspire him with something of new 
hope. His command had suffered sadly for want of steady and 
persistent organization ; it being mostly made up of volunteers 
who had hied to the camps in prospect of short service and a 
speedy return to their homes ; and at one time it had been re- 
duced by absenteeism to less than five thousand men, when Gen. 
Price was threatened on all sides : by Lane, from Kansas; by the 
forces from the north of Lexington, and by those coming out from 
St. Louis, by Rolla. Now, however, under the influence of fresh 
appeals, his forces ran up to more than ten thousand men, and 
with these he determined to move towards Springfield, and make 
another effort for the redemption of the State. He had again put 
himself in communication with McCulloch's forces, then under 
command of Cols. Mcintosh and Hebert. His aim was to hold 
the State of Missouri, because of the richness of the country, and 
its great capacity of subsistence ; because of the priceless value 
of the Granby Lead Mines ; and because he most especially desir- 
ed to confine the destroying tide of war to its limits, and leave 
Arkansas and the South free and unharmed. He could not do 
this unaided and alone. His force was too small to resist one of 
the best appointed armies ever put on foot by the United States. 
He argued the subject fully and repeatedly with Mcintosh and 
Hebert, McCulloch then being at Richmond. He appealed to 
Albert Sidney Johnson, to the Richmond Government, and en- 
treated the co-operating aid of the Confederate forces, there hoard- 

21 



S22 MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

ed and rusting on the confines of Arkansas, while he was stand- 
ing picket for the whole Trans-Mississippi Department. He ex- 
pressed his willingness and ability to hold Missouri, and keep the 
Federal forces at ba}'- ; he exhibited the teeming granaries and 
meat supplies of the country ; he urged the importance of holding 
the Granby Lead Mines; and he argued the rich returns the 
armies of the Confederacy would derive from the fearless yeomanry 
of Missouri. 

But these views were not taken by the Confederate authorities. 
Price was not reinforced ; Curtis, Sigel, and Davis advanced ; the 
little Army of Missouri was compelled to retreat, and Springfield 
and Granby fell into the enemy's possession, no more to be re- 
claimed. But the retreat was conducted with a skill and success 
worthy of all praise ; and wherever the enemy came up with it 
he found a steadiness and ferocity, seldom the traits of a retreating 
column. Millions of stores, wagons and teams, lead and cattle, and 
other property were carried out by Price ; for four days and 
nights he marched and fought, saving all his stores and losing but 
few of his men ; and he exhibited an endurance and energy which 
astonished the enemy, and was the occasion of the remark, that 
"Old Price could beat the world running after a fight or away 
from one." With sullen steps he retired to the Boston Mountains, 
where he encamped, and where finally he was to be joined by 
McCulloch's forces, but not until the golden moment for an offen- 
sive movement had departed, and the enemy had increased the 
forces, and multiplied the toils, by which he held the State of 
Missouri. 

An officer of Price's army, describing this hard and painful 
retreat, writes : "Our sufferings during the campaign had been 
extreme, but setting the inconveniences aside, had tended to harden 
us, and make our limbs as tough as steel. Continually marching 
through non-inhabited districts, we had to depend upon Providence 
for supplies. Over mountains, through 'gaps,' across rivers and 
creeks, our progress was toilsome and weary ; but not more than 
a hundred names could be found upon the sick-list at any time 
during our frequent and rapid journeyings. Our cavalry led a 
hard life, incident to their daily duty. Among the mountains a 
party of these ' irregular ' horse would watch all the roads, conceal 
their fires, and hang around the enemy with a pertinacious deter- 



MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 323 

mination that no man should stir without their knowledge, and at 
the least opportunity making a dash at the foe, capturing and des- 
troying as they went, living as best they might, and doing what- 
ever they pleased. As scouts, these men were invaluable, they 
were here, there, and everywhere ; it was impossible to follow in 
their track. Their dress was of skins or anything that came to 
hand, and so long as grass was found for their hardy, wiry Indian 
horses, the riders cared little for food, dress, leisure, or relief from 
duty." 

It is said that about this period of the enemy's encouragement, 
when the Army of Missouri was compelled to retire to the Boston 
Mountains, Gen. Halleck, who had assumed command of the 
Western Department, sent a message to Gen. Price by a gentleman 
who was passing the lines. " Tell Gen. Price," he said, " that he 
had the advantage of me in Missouri, for he knew the country 
better than I did ; but I have got him now where I want him, and 
expect to capture him, and whip his army soon." " When you go 
back," was Price's reply, "say to Gen. Halleck that he has not 
men enough in his army to capture me. And as to whipping 
my hoys, tell him he may select one hundred of the best men in 
his whole army, and I will take the same number of mine, as they 
come, and without distinction. He shall lead his one hundred men, 
and I will lead mine ; and we will go into an open field to fight 
it out ; and the fate of the Southern Confederacy shall depend 
upon the result. Tell him that,^will you ! " No reply was ever 
made to the challenge. 

On his retreat to the Boston Mountains it was discovered, much 
to Gen. Price's gratification, that the government at Richmond had 
at last determined to cure the disagreement between himself and 
McCulloch by appointing Maj.-Gen. Earl "Van Dorn to the com- 
mand of all the Trans-Mississippi forces, giving him the direction 
of affairs there, and securing that unanimity so long desirable. 
A happy accord existed between Gen. Price and the new com- 
mander. Indeed a private correspondence had taken place between 
these two military chieftains, on the occasion of Van Dorn's ap- 
pointment by President Davis to take command in Arkansas and 
Missouri, which not only showed a spirit of mutual appreciation and 
compliment highly honourable to both, but developed a singular 
similarity of views (considering that the letter of each was written 



324 MAJOR GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

■without knowledge of that of the other) with reference to the con" 
duct of the war. 

When Van Dorn arrived to take command, a plan of attack was 
soou settled — a joint one bj Price and McCulloch ; the enemy- 
then resting at Pea Ridge. The army, about 16,000 strong, was 
put in motion, encamped on the 5th March at Elm Springs, at- 
tacked Sigel next day at Bentonsville, and drove him out. Gen. 
Van Dorn, during the night, so changed the plan of battle, as to 
allow ^rcCulloch to attack with his force on the south, while Price 
was to move around on the north. It was a fatal errour. Price 
was on the north, McCulloch on the south, the enemy was be- 
tween them, only three miles apart; yet in order for either to 
reach the other, twelve miles had to be travelled, by reason of the 
mountainous country. Price, with 7,300 men, McCulloch with 
9,000, either weakened or pushed to extremity, could derive no 
aid in proper time from the other — an inferiour force surrounding 
a superiour one. Van Dorn rode up on the morning of the 7th, 
and informed Price of the change, who at once deeply regretted it, 
and urged its disadvantages. Van Dorn yielded ; courier after 
courier was dispatched to McCulloch; but it was too late. He was 
already in action. In a few moments he and Mcintosh, his second 
in command, were both killed, and there were none to direct the 
progress of the troops, who felt they were now pushing on to vic- 
tory ; the various colonels, in fact, did not stop to inquire who had 
succeeded to the command, but each was doing his best in his own 
way. The enemy were before them, and they neither knew nor 
cared for anything more ; of strategy, they were almost, if not 
quite, ignorant ; the men were in disorder, but still fought on, 
regiment mixed with regiment. Thinking that his orders would 
be obeyed, and not knowing that McCulloch and Mcintosh were 
among the slain. Van Dorn pushed forward his centre and left as 
best he could, and after much hard fighting, drove the enemy, in- 
flicting much loss. 

Curtis and Sturgis perceiving, however, the confusion on the 
right, where McCulloch had fallen, rallied their commands, and 
presented a formidable front. Here the battle was renewed, and a 
desperate action took place. Price, with his 7,000 veterans, who 
did not know how to retreat, continued to assail the unbroken 
Federals, now all united. During the whole day he drove them ; 



MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 325 

it was one continuous advance from point to point; and at night 
the army that had performed such miracles of valour slept in the 
encampment of the enemy of the same day, and fed from his com- 
missariat supplies. 

But the victory which Price had plucked from circumstances 
so adverse and desperate, proved fruitless, and was bitter with dis- 
appointment. He was anxious to renew the battle the next day, 
and expressed to Van Dorn his confidence that he would make 
another Wilson's Creek affair, when he overran the enemy's odds 
on the soil of Missouri. The camps of the enemy had fallen into 
his hands, with many prisoners, stores, cannon, etc. ; and the men 
were excited with their success. Van Dorn, however, surmised 
that reinforcements had reached the enemy in great number, and 
felt himself too weak to accept another engagement, should the 
enemy force one upon him. He therefore ordered the sick far to 
the rear, and, destroying so much of the booty as could not be 
transported, began to prepare for a retreat. 

Thus ended the battle of Elk Horn (it was called " Pea Eidge," 
by the enemy), with results adverse to the Confederates, and so 
important that it may be said to have decided the question of Con- 
federate rule in Missouri. Whatever the errours that precipitated 
such results on the very heels of victory, it may be said that Price 
had no part or lot in them. The Missouri troops, from the noble 
veteran who had led them so long, down to the meanest private, be- 
haved with a courage, the fire and devotion of which never, for a 
moment, slackened. The personal testimony of Gen. Van Dorn to 
their noble conduct, was a just and magnanimous tribute. He 
wrote to the Government at Eichmond : "During the whole of 
this engagement I was with the Missourians, under Price, and I 
have never seen better fighters than these Missouri troops, or more 
gallant leaders than Gen. Price and his officers. From the first to the 
last shot, they continually rushed on, and never yielded an inch 
they had won ; and when at last they received orders to flill back, 
they retired steadily and with cheers. Gen. Price received a severe 
wound in the action, but would neither retire from the field nor 
cease to expose his life to danger." 

Nor is this all the testimony to ihe heroism of Gen. Price on the 
field of Elk Horn. Some incidents are related by an officer of his 
conduct in the retreat, that show aspects of heroism more engaging 



326 , MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

than even those of reckless bravery. " In the progress of the 
retreat/' writes an officer, "every few hundred yards we would 
overtake some wounded soldier. As soon as he would see the old 
General, he would cry out : ' General, I am wounded I ' Instantly 
some vehicle was ordered to stop, and the poor soldier's wants cared 
for. Again and again it occurred, until the conveyances were 
covered with the wounded. Another one cried out : • General, I 
am wounded ! ' The General's head dropped upon his breast, and 
his eyes, bedimmed with tears, were thrown up, and he looked in 
front for some place to put his poor soldier. He discovered some- 
thing on wheels in front, and commanded : ' Halt ! and put this 
wounded soldier up ; by G — d, I will save my wounded, if I lose 
the whole army ! ' " 

The battle of Elk Horn may be said to have terminated Price's 
splendid career as commander of " the Missouri State Guard." 
Shortly thereafter it was decided by the government at Eichmond 
to remove the forces from the Trans-Mississippi district, and to 
unite the armies of Van Dorn and Price with such force as Gen. 
Beauregard already had at Corinth. The order for leaving the 
limits of their States was responded to by the Missouri and Arkan- 
sas troops with ready and patriotic spirit. Price had for a long 
time been held in disfavour by President Davis. But popular 
demand, army clamour, and Congressional urgency, were too 
great longer to withstand, and the Major-General's commission 
was ordered. On the occasion of this change of command and 
transfer of his theatre of operations across the Mississippi Eiver, 
Price made to his troops the following extraordinary and admirable 
appeal. Comprehensive in its terms, Napoleonic in spirit, and glow- 
ing with patriotic fire, it challenges comparison with some of the 
military orders of the most celebrated commanders in history : 

Headquarters Missouri State Guard, 

Des Arc, Arkansas, April 3, 1862. 
Soldiers of the State Guard : 

I command you no longer. I have this day resigned the com- 
mission which your patient endurance, 3'our devoted patriotism, 
and your dauntless bravery, have made so honourable. I have done 
this that I may the better serve you, our State, and our country ; 
that I may the sooner lead you back to the fertile prairies, the rich 



MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 327 

woodlands, and majestic streams of our beloved Missouri ; that I 
may the more certainly restore you to your once nappy homes, 
and to the loved ones there. 

Five thousand of those who have fought side by side with us 
under the grizzly bears of Missouri, have followed me into the 
Confederate camp. They appeal to you, as I do, by all the tender 
memories of the past, not to leave us now, but to go with us wher- 
ever the path of duty may lead, till we shall have conquered a 
peace, and won our independence, by brilliant deeds upon new 
fields of battle. 

Soldiers of the State Guard ! veterans of six pitched battles 
and nearly twenty skirmishes! conquerors in them all! your 
country, with its " ruined hearths and shrines," calls upon you to 
rally once more in her defence, and rescue her forever from the 
terrible thraldom which threatens her. I know that she will not 
call in vain. The insolent and barbarous hordes which have dared 
to invade our soil, and to desecrate our homes, have just met with 
a signal overthrow beyond the Mississippi. Now is the time to 
end this unhappy war. If every man will but do his duty, his 
own roof will shelter him in peace from the storms of the coming 
winter. 

Let not history record that the men who bore with patience 
the privations of Cowskin Prairie, who endured uncomplainingly 
the burning heats of a Missouri summer, and the frosts and snows 
of a Missouri winter ; that the men who met the enemy at Car- 
thage, at Oak Hills, at Fort Scott, at Lexington, and in number- 
less lesser battle-fields in Missouri, and met them but to conquer 
them ; that the men who fought so bravely and so well at Elk 
Horn ; that the unpaid soldiery of Missouri, were, after so many 
victories, and after so much suffering, unequal to the great task of 
achieving the independence of their magnificent State. 

Soldiers 1 I go but to mark a pathway to our homes. Follow 
me I 

Sterling Price. 



328 MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 



CHAPTER XXVni. 

Career of Gen. Price as a subordinate. — Mortality record of the Missouri Guard. — 
Their participation in the battle of Corinth. — Battle of Helena. — Gen. Price's 
cherished idea of liberating Missouri. — His agreement with Gen. Fremont for the 
humanities of the war. — How the enemy violated it. — Gen. Price's last attempt to 
save Missouri. — His final retreat from tlie State. — Summary of the character of 
Gen. Price. — A defect in his miUtary career. — Gen. Price as an exile. 

The glowing anticipations with which Gen. Price joined the 
forces of Beauregard were never realized. It was an unfortunate 
promotion and an evil star that took Gen. Price across the Missis- 
sippi. From that day forward, he never held independent com- 
mand, and his subsequent military career may be described as 
desultory. A pioneer in energetic thought and action, his was not 
a genius to prosper under the control of but the fewest men. His 
career as a subordinate was not wholly in eclipse; the universal 
acclaim of every battle in which he was an actor told of his brav- 
ery ; he always did his part well when others failed, and invariably 
won his share of the action ; but the general story was that of im- 
perfect results, where he was not sustained, and the mistaken judg- 
ment or blundering vanity of his superiours interfered to hold him 
in check, and diminish his authority. 

That famous body of troops, the "Missouri Guard," became 
almost extinct in the multitude of battles it fought far away fi.*om 
its homes. Of the ten thousand gallant men whom Pi'ice led from 
Missouri, in April and May, 1862, not more than two thousand 
five hundred were left at the close of the year survivors of the 
casualties of battle and camps, fit for service. 

At luka Gen. Price won a victory, took a formidable battery 
with his " salamander brigades," and retired only when the enemy 
was reinforced to an extent that made further attack madness. At 
Corinth, although the Confederate arms were unsuccessful there, 
he alone won a fame equal to that of his greatest victories. Of his 
part in this action Gen. Price officially reports : "It was after nine 
o'clock (October 4, 1862) when my line became generally and furi- 



MAJOE-GENERAL STEELING PEICE. 329 

ously engaged with the enemy in his innermost and most formida- 
ble works, from which his infantry and artillery could jointly 
operate against my troops. Here, as in the previous actions, my 
artillery could not be effectively brought into action, and but few 
of the guns were engaged. The fighting, by my command, was 
almost entirely confined to the infantry. My men pressed forward 
upon the enemy, and, with heavy loss, succeeded in getting into 
the works, having driven him from them, capturing more than 
forty pieces of artillery, and forcing him to take refuge in the 
houses of the town, and in every place that would afford protec- 
tion from our galling fire. He was followed and driven from 
house to house with great slaughter. In the town were batteries 
in mask, supported by heavy reserves, behind which the retreating 
enemy took shelter, and which opened upon our troops a most 
destructive fire at short range. My men held their positions most 
gallantly, returning the fire of the enemy with great spirit, until 
portions of them exhausted their ammunition and were compelled 
to retire. This necessitated the withdrawal of the whole line, 
which was done under a withering fire. The attack was not 
resumed, and we fell back to our supply train, the men being 
almost exhausted from exertion and want of food and water. 
Gen. Villepigue's brigade moved over to our assistance, but did 
not become engaged, as the enemy was too badly cut up to follow 
us. We fell back in order to obtain water, some six miles from 
Corinth, where we bivouacked for the night, bringing off all of our 
artillery and arms, save one rifled piece, which had been inadver- 
tently driven into the enemy's line while going into battery before 
daylight in the morning, and had been left. We brought off, also, 
the two guns captured at the outer line of fortifications on the 
3d. It is impossible for me to do justice to the courage of my 
troops in these engagements, nor can I discriminate between offi- 
cers and commands where all behaved so nobly." 

It is scarcely necessary to follow in detail the career of Gen. 
Price to Farmington, and Abbeville, and Helena, and other fields 
of less important action. At Helena (July 4, 1863), he fought 
against his judgment, under the imperative orders of Gen. 
Holmes ; and although the other commands failed. Price alone 
carried the enemy's position, and crowned with its valour " the 
Grave-Yard Fort," but at a sacrifice of life which he deplored, 



330 MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

accomplisliing, as he foresaw, a success which could not be sus- 
tained, and a glory unproductive of substantial fruits. Fettered 
by the orders of such men as Pemberton and Holmes, subse- 
quently cooperating with Gen. Kirby Smith, contributing to the 
Red River campaign, and containing the enemy on the borders of 
Arkansas, he was still the successful commander, in all the parts to 
which he was assigned, but unable to carry out his cherished idea 
of liberating Missouri and striking a blow on her soil. Wher- 
ever he went, wherever he camped, especially wherever he fought, 
the people cheered with a zest, and the soldier dared, and bled, and 
died, as he would do under few other leaders. But these distant 
and partial fields did not satisfy Price's ambition ; to scourge the 
enemy from his native State he considered his appointed mission ; 
and in the midst of other careers of glory his thoughts constantly 
reverted to his beloved Missouri, and the sensibilities of his heart 
were lacerated by the stories of her suffering under the rule of an 
enemy whose insolence and cruelty had exceeded all bounds, and 
scoffed every demand of justice and every cry of humanity. 

In his first campaign in Missouri, Gen. Price had endeavoured 
to put the war on the most civilized footing, to secure to all the 
people of the State the ordinary humanities attendant upon arm- 
ed strife, and to confine the contest exclusively to the armies in 
the field. In pursuance of these views the following joint procla- 
mation was issued — which, copied in full, claims entire and close 
attention as one of the most interesting texts of the war. 

To all Peaceahly-disposed Citizens of the State of Missouri, greeting : 
"Whereas, A solemn agreement has been entered into by Major- 
Generals Fremont and Price, respectively commanding antagonistic 
forces in the State of Missouri, to the effect, that in future arrests 
or forcible interference by armed or unarmed parties of citizens 
within the limits of said State for the mere entertainment or 
expression of political opinions, shall hereafter cease ; that families 
now broken up for such causes may be reunited, and that the war, 
now progressing, shall be exclusively confined to armies in the 
field ; therefore, be it known to all whom it may concern : 

1. No arrests whatever on account of political opinions, or for 
the merely private expression of the same, shall hereafter be made 
within the limits of the State of Missouri, and all persons who 



MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 331 

may have been arrested and are now held to answer upon such 
charges only, shall be forthwith released. But it is expressly de- 
clared that nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to bar 
or interfere with any of the usual and regular proceedings of the 
established courts and statutes and orders made and provided for 
such offences. 

2. All peaceably-disposed citizens, who may have been driven 
from their homes because of their political opinions, or who may 
have left them from fear of force and violence, are hereby advised 
and permitted to return, upon the faith of our positive assurances 
that while so returning they shall receive protection from both 
armies in the field, whenever it can be given. 

3. All bodies of armed men acting without the authority or 
recognition of the Major-Gen. before named, and not legitimately 
connected with the armies in the field, are hereby ordered at once 
to disband. 

4. Any violation of either of the foregoing articles shall sub- 
ject the offender to the penalty of military law, according to the 
nature of the offence. 

This done and agreed at Springfield, Missouri, this first day of 
November, 1861. 

By order of Major-General Fremont. 

J. H. Eaton, A. A. A. G. 
Maj.-Gen. Sterling Price, by 

Henry W. Williams, 
D. Egbert Barclay, 

Commissioners. 

Here was a distinct and honourable pledge made by the enemy 
to conduct the war in Missouri on principles of humanity, and to 
forego all persecution for opinion's sake. How was it fulfilled, 
when Price's army was compelled to retire from the State, and the 
enemy's audacity was unbridled, and his true temper allowed to 
run its course? The flagitious story of his behaviour in Virginia 
and in the Valley of Mississippi, obtained new additions and sur- 
passing illustrations of cruelty in the distant State of Missouri, and 
in the obscure departments of authority, where despotism ran riot 
almost without the chance of being discovered, or the risk of being 



332 MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

called to account. No '•' red tape " embarrassed the enemy's power 
here; no settled rules limited and contained it; the Federal au- 
thority and its partisans did what they pleased. The unhappy 
State was torn by crimes and excesses which no pen can describe. 
The habeas corpus was suspended ; denunciations and arrests be- 
came the weapons of private malignity ; Union men plundered and 
destroyed the homes of those whom they chose to denounce ; arson, 
murder, confiscation, exile, were the penalties dealt out against 
men, women, and children, by vigilance committees; the assassin's 
dagger was unsheathed and held at the throat of every one who 
dared to sympathize with the South, or to protest against the worst 
excesses of despotic authority. Such was the realization to Mis- 
souri of a war which the enemy had solemnly engaged to conduct 
only against armies in the field, and for the exclusive object of the 
restoration of the Union. 

It was not until near the close of the war, that Gen. Price made 
his last desperate attempt to save Missouri, to relieve her from the 
reign of terrour, and to " chase the Union army from the State." 
It failed. It commenced with a brilliant inroad ; and in the last 
days of September, 1864, Price's little and adventurous army, 
under the command of Shelby, Marmaduke, and Fagan, had ad- 
vanced towards Pilot Knob, and was moving north to the Missouri 
River. But the enemy was too numerous; and while Rosecrans 
pressed his rear, a body of 8,000 cavalry fell upon Price, who 
found it impossible to extricate himself without a battle, delivered 
against overwhelming odds. On the 23d October he was attacked, 
and defeated with great loss — Gens. Marmaduke and Cabell being 
taken prisoners, besides many ofticers and men. The following 
day Price was again attacked, near Fort Scott, and obliged hur- 
riedly to retreat into Kansas. He then turned down to the south, 
and crossed the Arkansas River, above Fort Smith, in the Indian 
Territory. On the 8th December, 1864, his headquarters were at 
Washington, in the south part of Arkansas, his troops at that time 
greatly suffering from the weather, and sadly diminished by a cam- 
paign in which the casualties had been many, and the desertions 
yet more numerous. 

This event may be said to have terminated Gen. Price's mili- 
tary career. At the close of the war he was included in Kirby 
Smith's surrender ; and preferring exile to the lot of submission 



MAJOR-GEXERAL STERLING PRICE. 333 

ibat the war had determined, he shortly thereafter left the country, 
and found refuge in Mexico. There he was for some time engaged 
in a scheme of colonization under the auspices of the Imperial 
Government, which, however, it is generally believed, proved a 
feeble and unsatisfactory enterprise. 

In the character of Gen. Price, as illustrated in our brief 
sketch, we remark simplicity, the charm of great earnestness, and 
a commanding influence over men. As a military man, he was 
apt, resourceful, and not without some strategic genius. But no 
commander — not even Stonewall Jackson — ever fought his troops 
more fiercely and in closer quarters with the enemy. Like the 
great warriour of Yirginia, he cared but little for works of defence, 
and sought the contact of the bayonet. It is said that shortly 
after he had joined the Confederate army, then at Corinth, Gen. 
Beauregard conducted him around the lines of the camp, and with 
a good deal of pride exhibited and explained the strength of his 
fortifications. " What do you think of these works, Gen. Price? " 
"Why, General," answered Price, "to tell you the truth, I never 
saw but two of the kind before, and that was after our boys had 
taken them." 

We cannot fail to observe a defect in Gen. Price's military 
career, in the want of discipline in his command, painfully appar- 
ent in his last invasion of Missouri ; but this appears to have been 
so common and inherent an affliction in all the armies of the Con- 
federacy, and to have proceeded from so many causes beyond con- 
trol — the individuality of the Southern soldier, the necessity of 
conciliating him in the peculiar circumstances of a service where 
there were so many hardships, so many appeals to return to suffer- 
ing families, so many opportunities to desert in wild and impassable 
countries, where it was impossible to reclaim him — that it is 
scarcely to be urged personally against any commander, and cast as 
censure at his doors.* Price's men loved him, and never failed 

* An article in a recent review contains the following just remarks on the organi- 
zation and spirit of the Southern armies : 

" The army of the late ' Confederate States of America ' was an eclectic, or 
excerpted system from the high mihtary models of Austria, Prussia, France, and the 
United States. It was a beautiful and complete model of thorough scientific organi- 
zation, full of interest and instruction to those who wish to learn how to make war 
terrible and destructive, and, above all things else that sprang from the master hand 



834 MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

Lim for want of affection and confidence. Many of them asserted 
that "they would rather die under his command than fight with 
any other." They had a number of familiar affectionate names by 
which their commander was designated, such as " Pap," " Dad," 
" The Old Tycoon," etc. There can be no better indication of 
popularity than the rude nicknames of the camp. Gen. Price had 
the charm of being accessible alike to all — the officer and the pri- 
vate; and was always ready with a kind and respectful word for 

of that directing and all-informing mind that stood at the head of the Southern revo- 
lution, attested its commanding genius. From Austria was taken the admirable 
organization of the grand field-staff; from Prussia, the firm and compact general 
military anatomy ; from Prance, the model of its field ordnance, and scientific artil- 
lery theory and practice ; and from the United States, its tactical economy, its infan- 
try equipment and drill, its army regulations, and its theory of military manoeuvre 
and strategic practice. 

" The organiz.ation of the Confederate army was a finished piece of military mechan- 
ism, methodical, harmonious, composite, in all pertaining to its exteriour, practical 
arrangement ; but there was a fatal defect in its interiour. vital economy, a morbid, 
organic derangement, that defeated every hope of healthy bodily action, preyed upon 
the seat of life, and caused its ultimate dissolution. That disease was tlie absence 
of a rigid discipline. If it had possessed this one important quality, the battle of 
Sharpsburg would have declared the independence of the South. Gen. Lee crossed 
over into Maryland, a fortnight before the happening of that battle, with eighty thou- 
sand troops ; but on that field he could only put his hand on thirty-five thousand of 
that number. Not that this more than moiety of his army had wilfully deserted their 
colours ; but allured from their commands by the profuse hospitality of the people of 
Maryland, they lingered behind the advancing army, thinking to rejoin it in time to 
share in its laurels. Such conduct the systems of Frederick and Napoleon pronounced 
desertion, and inflexibly punished with death. The great body of the rank and file 
of the Southern army was composed of a social element that in the armies of other 
countries is seen only in positions of command and authority ; and the oflicers elected 
from among themselves, and often their social and intellectual inferiours, left matters 
of authority and subordination to take care of themselves, while their only care was 
to make their reports correspond, from day to day. Under such a general relaxation 
of authority, discipline was impossible ; and the Southern army was nothing more 
than an association of patriotic gentlemen, animated by the enthusiasm of a common 
cause, and regarding army regulations and discipline as designed only for a race of 
slaves. When once in battle, they fought with a dash, spirit, resolution, and des- 
peration of valour such as has never been excelled by any soldiery in the world, 
ancient or modern. This idea is most forcibly illustrated by a remark that is said to 
have fallen from the lips of that rugged old hero, Gen. D. II. Hill, after the battle of 
Antietam, when, in speaking of the behaviour of his troops in that engagement, he 
said, he had but one fault to find of his Mississippians, and that was, ' each man acted as 
if he thought hiuiRelf a brigadier.' In the European sense of the word, there was 
no such thmg known to the Confederate army as discipline." 



MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 83o 

every one. And yet he was fierce and energetic, with unlimited 
influence over his men. 

Of the hero in exile, an eloquent writer, from whom we have 
already drawn some incidents of Gen. Price's career, thus well and 
noblj'- discourses : " Gen. Price has gone to Mexico, if reports are 
true, with tlie purpose of making it his home and country — nay, 
not his country, for we hold it impossible that any man, with his 
brain and affections, can shake off both educated and natural patriot- 
ism. He cannot do it. His heart, like every great or brave heart, 
in the land we love, yet yearns for the glory and prosperity of 
the great nation from which he is said to have expatriated himself. 
' A poor, unmanly melancholy, sprang from change of fortune,' 
cannot so afflict his noble nature. Disappointed in his hopes he 
may be distrustful of his reception by former friends and neigh- 
bours, yea, doubtful of his pardon by the General Government. 
We do not so regard the prospect. Gen. Price has honestly and 
well taken a leading part in the great revolution the entire South 
stood so manfully to achieve. He has forfeited the respect of no 
one, save the blind partisan, or the bloodthirsty puritan. On the 
contrary he has won upon their sympathy and regard; for duty 
performed commends itself to the heart of every well-regulated 
child of Adam. He has committed no outrage, no act of his life 
can bring the blush of shame to his cheek, or disturb the most 
extravagant conscience. We differ with all those who look for 
refuge to another land, another nationality. The South staked her 
all upon the issue just decided. She lost. She is willing to pay 
the penalty, has paid it, and is still paying it. She has nearly 
resumed her old place in tlie government, and her soldiers have 
determined, under the wise policy of President Johnson, to accept, 
in lo3'al f lith, his generous amnestj'^, faithfully to serve the United 
States, and strive to promote all solid ends of government, as freely, 
as fully, as manfully, as during the past four years they fought for 
separation. So we speak and feel, and so shall we act. Now is 
the day and the hour when such manhood as Gen. Price possesses 
this nation needs, in carrying out her new policy. Let him return. 
Let him go cheerfully to his old home, with form erect, that face 
blooming with honest pride, and, like Lee and Johnson, strike 
again for the national and social progress of his own, his native 
land. 



336 MAJOR-GENERAL STERLING PRICE. 

" Say not with the Grecian misanthrope : 

" ' Come not to me again : but say to Athens, 
Timon hath made his everlasting mansion 
Upon the beached verge of the salt flood ; 
Whom once a day with his embossed froth 
The turbulent surge shall cover.' " 




^^JrfHBHaU.TJT^ 



GEN^ JOi. E JOHNSTOIT, 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGIESTON JOHNSTON. ^^ 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



Some account of "the first families" of Virginia. — Ancestry of Joseph Eggleston 
Johnston. — Peter Johnston in the Revolutionary War, and in the State councils 
of Virginia. — Early life of Joseph E. Johnston. — Military tastes of the boy. — 
Services of Lieut. Johnston in the Florida War. — An incident of desperate 
courage. — Services in the Mexican War. — Bon Mot of (Jen. Scott. — Johnston 
appointed Quartermaster-GeneraL 

The people of Eastern Yirginia have a creditable practice of 
tracing family lineages to their earliest sources. In democratic 
communities, where inherited rank is disallowed, and distinctions 
of blood are decried, the practice may be somewhat invidious ; 
but yet there is no sentiment more natural, more laudable, or 
more conducive to the welfare of the State, than pride of family 
founded upon merit continuing, or honourable public services 
repeated, through successive generations. The Virginia habit is 
the more praiseworthy, innocent, and useful, inasmuch as the claim 
so often heard, of descent from the " first families," far from being 
generally a pretension to superiour rank and blood, is nothing 
more than a commendable claim of regular and honest descent 
from early settlers in the colony. By " first " families is meant 
nothing more pretentious or aristocratic than families that came 
to Yirginia in periods of history more or less early. Not many 
families, however, now claiming this attribute of first in order of 
time, can be traced further back than a few generations beyond the 
colonial war of independence. 

Among the first families of Yirginia, in this sense of time, are 
those of Lee and Johnston ; names which were as intimately iden- 
tified in the Eevolution which succeeded in 1783, as they have 

22 



S38 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

been in that which failed in 1865. If the Virginia habit of trac- 
ing lineages be pardonable, the reader will excuse the indulgence 
of it in the instance of Joseph Eggleston Johnston ; for both 
his paternal and maternal ancestry were prominently known in the 
early history of the State. 

Peter Johnston, the first of his family in America, was a na- 
tive of Edinburgh. He belonged to the clan of Johnstons of 
Annandale, the famous border chieftains, celebrated in Scottish 
song and legend. Emigrating to the colony of Virginia when 
about sixteen years of age, he became a merchant, and settled at a 
place on James River known as Osborne's, at that time the chief 
" Tobacco Inspection " in the colony. He remained single until 
his fifty-first year, and then married a widow, Mrs. Martha Rogers, 
daughter of Mr. John Butler, a merchant of Prince George Coun- 
ty, who lived on the south side of the Appomatox, a mile below 
Petersburg. Peter Johnston and his wife lived four years at Os- 
borne's, and then (in 1765) removed to the County of Prince Ed- 
ward, and settled on a farm, which they called Cherry Grove, but 
which was afterwards called Longwood, a mile from Farmville. 
This place was the family residence until 1811. They prospered, 
acquired a handsome propert}^, and gained high standing. Mr. 
Johnston, always a strong advocate for learning, was one (the 
chief) of the founders of Hampden Sidney College. He gave 
his four sons a liberal education — first, under the care of tutors, 
whom he imported expressly from Scotland, and afterwards at 
Hampden Sidney. He was a High Churchman, a firm royalist, 
and a great stickler for family dignity and paternal authority. 
He gave most of his property to the eldest son. 

On Thursday the 6th of January, 1763, the first son of Peter and 
Martha Johnston was born, at Osborne's on James River, and was 
baptized by his father's name. The son was two years of age at 
the removal of the family to Prince Edward. 

Imbibing at a very early period of the Revolutionary War an 
enthusiiistic attachment to the cause of liberty, and sensible that the 
opinions of his father, whose political creed sanctioned the preten- 
sions of Britain, would militate against his ardent ambition to serve 
the patriot cause, Peter Johnston the younger, at the age of six- 
teen, eloped from his college, and joined as a volunteer the Legion 
of Lieut.-Col. Henry Lee, then passing through the country. His 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON". 339 

companion in this truancy was Clement Carrington of Charlotte 
County. The Legion was composed of three companies of horse 
and three of foot. It was then on its march from the army of 
"Washington in the north, to take part with Greene in the southern 
campaigns. Col. Lee had made so favourable an impression on 
Gen. Washington, as to have been permitted to organize and officer 
his Legion with men specially known for their courage and eflS- 
ciency. No command of approximate numbers was ever able to 
withstand it. Peter Johnston's eagerness to acquire military knowl- 
edge, and unceasing efforts at distinction, very speedily attracted 
attention, and obtained for him the commission of ensign, to which 
he aspired; while the whole tenor of his conduct evinced that it 
could not have been more judiciously bestowed. He was brave, 
enterprising, and where duty called, exemplary in its performance. 
He bore himself honourably and bravely at Guilford, Eutaw, and 
Ninety-six, and retained to the day of his death a predilection for 
his early profession, which not all his subsequent success in a pro- 
fession of a very different character could entirely obliterate. The 
captain of his company was Joseph Eggleston of Amelia. 

To the end of the war he still acquired an increase of reputation, 
and so completely gained the favour of the parent whom he had 
offended, as to be received on his return to the domestic circle of 
his family, not only with affection but with pride. He chose the 
profession of law, and soon won an enviable prominence at the bar. 

After the war, the names of Lee and Johnston took a tempo- 
rary divergence. Henry Lee became a strong federalist and vehe- 
ment assailant of Jefferson, the founder of the opposite school of 
politics; while we find Peter Johnston a prominent member of the 
republican party. Both of these names appear in the report of the 
celebrated debates of the Virginia General Assembly of 1799, on 
the resolutions which had been adopted in 1798 on the relations 
of the States to the Union ; and appear on opposite sides of the 
question. Peter Johnston, a delegate from Prince Edward, had 
been one of the committee who had reported these celebrated 
resolutions at the session preceding the report of Madison, and the 
debates of 1799 upon the subject. Peter Johnston was subse- 
quently for many years a Judge of the General Court of Virginia, 
and moved in 1811 to the Abingdon district, in Southwest Virginia 
to which he had been assigned. 



340 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

In 1788, Peter Johnston the younger was married to Marj 
"Wood, the second daughter of Col. Valentine Wood, Clerk of 
Goochland County, by his wife Lucy, a sister of Patrick Henry, 
the orator and patriot. Valentine Wood was a wealthy landed 
proprietor; owning Wood ville, an estate on James Eiver, which 
was the family residence during his life; Buck Island, on Buck 
Creek in Albemarle, to which place his widow removed after hia 
death ; and Fish Creek farm in Louisa County. The father of 
Valentine Wood was Henry Wood, an Englishman, and man of 
letters, who was the first Clerk of Goochland County, and whose 
wife was a Cox of the Chesterfield family. 

Lucy Wood {nee Henry), sister of Patrick Henry, was a lady 
of remarkable talent, social influence and piety, and was noted for 
her cultivated mind, and uncommon conversational powers. Mary 
Johnston {nee Wood) was also of superior intellect and mental 
cultivation. She inspired all her family with a strong predilection 
for literary and esthetical studies. She instructed in the rudiments 
of the ancient languages, and assisted in preparing for college each 
one of her sons. Such facts can so rarely be said of even the best 
mothers, that when true, they deserve to be recorded. 

Judge and Mrs. Johnston paid the strictest attention to the 
education of their children, moral and physical, as well as mental. 
They reared a considerable family. Charles Clement Johnston, the 
third son, was a man of great eloquence and popular talents, and in 
the excited year of 1832 was elected to Congress from south-western 
Virginia, as an advocate of State rights ; but he lost his life by 
accidental drowning, after a very brief service, during which he 
was rapidly making way to the highest reputation for eloquence 
and talent. 

Valentine Wood Southall, the first cousin of the subject of this 
biography, was the President of the Virginia Convention of 1861, 
at the time that body passed the ordinance by which Virginia 
seceded from the Union. The political facts which have been thus 
stated sufficiently indicate, in advance, the strong hereditary bias 
which contributed to decide the course of Gen. Johnston, when 
Virginia called upon him for the service of his sword : the grand- 
nephew of Patrick Henry, the son of Peter Johnston, the brother 
of Charles Johnston, and cousin of Valentine Southall. 

Joseph Eggleston Johnston, the eighth son of Judge Peter and 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 341 

Mary Johnston, was born on the 3d day of February, 1807, at 
Cherry Grove, near Farmville, in Prince Edward County, Vir- 
ginia. At school he was noted as a boy of quick parts, and bold 
and enterprising disposition. His parents had taught their chil- 
dren to obtain a complete mastery over their minds and temper. 
This self-control he exhibited in as remarkable a degree while 
young, as he did in much later years in some of the most trying 
situations in which men can find themselves placed. From very 
early boyhood his passion for a military life was decided and un- 
equivocal. He went always in the family by the nickname of 
" General." Naturally of such'a disposition as we have recorded, 
the son, moreover, of an old soldier, whose stirring narratives of 
his early experience in the army of Greene he must have often 
heard, his military proclivities grew with his growth and strength- 
ened with his strength. In 1825, through the influence of John 
C. Calhoun, who had been Secretary of War, he entered as a cadet 
at the military academy of West Point, at that time in the zenith 
of its reputation. His application to his studies was earnest and 
devoted. How successful it proved his after history shows. He 
graduated in 1829, in the same class with Gen. Eobert E. Lee, a 
circumstance well worthy of note ; and was assigned to the Fourth 
Artillery, with the rank of brevet second-lieutenant. At that 
time there was no opportunity for distinction in his profession, and 
therefore we find him still a lieutenant at the close of seven years, 
when he was appointed assistant commissary of subsistence, a post 
which he resigned the year after, upon receiving a commission as 
first-lieutenant in the Topographical Engineers. This rank he held 
when the Florida War broke out in 1836, He went to Florida 
in the capacity of adjutant-general to Gen, Scott, and held that po- 
sition during the period that Scott had the command of that army. 
His conduct throughout this war merited the highest praise, and 
drew upon him general notice. Upon one occasion, having been 
sent, under the escort of a party of infantry, to make a survey or 
reconnoissance of a region which lay around a lake, and having 
crossed the lake in boats, the party fell into an ambuscade of In- 
dians, and all its officers were killed or disabled at the first fire. 
The men were thrown into complete confusion, when Lieut. John- 
ston, taking the command, succeeded by his coolness and determin- 
ation in subduing what was fast becoming a panic. He conducted 



342 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

the retreat for seven miles with consummate skill, showing even 
then the talent which made him afterwards famous. At one time, 
whilst closely pressed by the Indians, he took shelter behind a 
small tree to rally his men. A storm of bullets swept by him, 
most of them aimed directly at himself; but, strange to say, while 
many struck the tree, for some time he was unhurt. At last, a 
ball struck him immediately above the forehead, and ranged back- 
wards, grazing the skull the whole distance, but not fracturing it. 
The injury was severe; so much so as to cause him to fall; but 
the troops had caught his spirit, and repulsed the enemy, bearing 
off their wounded in safety to the boats. The uniform worn by 
Lieut. Johnston on this occasion was long preserved by a friend as 
a curiosity, being perforated by thirty bullets. 

For his gallant conduct on this occasion, and throughout the 
Florida war, Lieut. Johnston was bre vetted captain ; a meagre 
recompense for so many and such arduous services; but promotion 
was slow in the old army. About this time he contracted a 
marriage with a daughter of the Hon. Louis McLane, of Delaware, 
who was for ten years a representative and afterwards a senator in 
Congress from that State ; then minister to England ; then Secre- 
tary of the Treasury in Gen. Jackson's second cabinet; afterwards 
Secretary of State under the same President; again minister to 
England under President Polk ; and who closed his life as presi- 
dent of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 

In September, 1846, Lieut. Johnston became a full captain by 
seniority. The Mexican war had now begun. On the 16th Feb- 
ruary, 1847, Capt. Johnston was made Lieut.-Col. of Voltigeurs, 
by brevet, and in that capacity sailed with the expedition under 
Gen. Scott. After the capture of Vera Cruz, when the army 
advanced. Col. Johnston made a most daring reconnoissance of the 
enemy's lines, strongly posted on the heights of Cerro Gordo. In 
this reconnoissance he was severely wounded, having approached 
so near the enemy's works that he was struck by three musket- 
balls. It was supposed at first that his wounds were mortal ; but 
a powerful constitution and skilful treatment carried him safely 
through. His wounds were received six days before the battle of 
Cerro Gordo, in which, of course, he was unable to take part. He 
recovered in time to resume his command in the concluding battles 
of the war. He distinguished himself at Molino del Key, and was 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 343 

again severely wounded at Chapultepec, These numerous wounds 
led Gen. Scott, afterwards, to say of him: "Johnston is a great 
soldier, but he has an unfortunate knack of getting himself shot in 
nearly every engagement," He was several times brevetted for 
gallant and meritorious conduct in this war, and at its conclusion 
was retained as Captain of Topographical Engineers. In 1855, 
when Congress authorized two additional regiments of horse, he 
was on the 3rd March commissioned as lieutenant-colonel in one 
of the new regiments (First Regiment of Cavalry, commanded by 
Col. E. V. Sumner); while holding this rank and position, he was 
temporarily detached to important topographical service west of 
the Mississippi. He was engaged in this duty when, in J une, 1860, 
he was appointed Quartermaster-General of the United States, 
with the commission of full brigadier-general. 

"While the question of this appointment was still pending, 
General Scott was requested by the Secretary of War to recom- 
mend for so important a position and promotion, an officer distin- 
guished for talent and promise in the army. Gen. Scott declined 
to confine himself to a single name, but recommended for selection 
one of the following four: Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. Lee, 
Albert Sidney Johnston, and G. F. Smith. Johnston received the 
appointment, and was engaged in the responsible duties of Quar- 
termaster-General, when his native State seceded from the Union, 
and imposed upon him the duty of separating himself from a ser- 
vice for which he felt a strong affection. 



344 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

Gen. Johnston's resignation from the United States Army. — He visits Montgomery. 
— Appointed a full General. — Ordered to Harper's Ferry. — The place a cul de 
sac. — Johnston abandons it. — Reasons for destroying the property of the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railroad. — How Gen. Johnston amused Patterson. — He asks 
permission to join Beauregard at Manassas Junction. — The march to Piedmont, 
and transportation henco to Manassas. 

Immediately on the passage of the Virginia ordinance of seces- 
sion, on the 17th April, 1861, State Senator John Robertson, 
deputed by the governor of the Commonwealth, called upon Gen. 
Scott, Gen. Johnston, and Col, Robert E. Lee, Virginians, of the 
Federal army then in Washington, to invite them to take service 
from their native State. Ilis interview with Scott was unsatisfac- 
tory. He saw Johnston at his residence, on Sunday, the 21st, 
who had been prevented up to this time, by the duties of his office, 
from resigning his commission in the Federal army. The letter 
of resignation, however, was then written, and was to be delivered 
the following morning. Gen. Johnston informed Judge Robertson, 
that he could not confer with him on the subject of his errand 
while holding a commission from the United States ; but that he 
would go so far as to assure him that his sword would never be 
drawn against his native State. 

On the same day, in familiar conversation with confidential 
friends, he expressed himself unreservedly upon public affairs. 
He considered war to be inevitable, and thought it would be a 
bloody and protracted one. He was clearly of opinion that Vir- 
ginia should stand upon the defensive. He assumed that of course 
she would be invaded ; and expressed the confident opinion that 
the principal line of advance and of defence would be on the rail- 
road running from Alexandria to Gordonsville and Richmond, He 
thought that a second Federal army would be sent into the Valley ; 
as that populous region would supply too many Southern soldiers 
to be left on the flank of the principal invading force. He ven- 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 345 

tured the opinion that the climax of the first campaign would be 
a battle fought near the junction of the railroad leading from the 
Valley with that running from Alexandria to Gordonsville ; and 
He declared that the tactics of the Southern Genetals should be, so 
to manceuvre as to be able to bring together at Manassas, their 
armies operating in the Valley and before Alexandria, at the criti- 
cal moment. These early ratiocinations had a remarkable realiza- 
tion in the sequel ; and it is well known to those who were near 
Gen, Johnston in the operations of 1861, that he steadily adhered 
to these opinions, and governed all his movements with reference 
to them. 

His resignation of the office of Quartermaster-General was ten- 
dered in person to the Secretary of War, on the day following 
these incidents. The Secretary kindly endeavoured to dissuade him 
from the step, and urged him to remain in the service of the Union. 
His arguments were of course unavailing. It was generally under- 
stood at the time, that if either Johnston or Lee had adhered to 
the Union, the principal command of the Federal armies would 
have been conferred on one or the other of them. 

Gen. Johnston at once repaired to the capital of Virginia, 
where having reported for duty, he was appointed a Major-General 
of volunteers, and was busy for a time, in conjunction with the 
State authorities and Gen. Lee, in organizing the volunteers who 
were daily pouring into Richmond. Gen. Lee had preceded him 
in his arrival at Richmond, and had immediately received the 
commission of Major-General, and been assigned to the chief com- 
mand of the State forces. Gen, Johnston was soon tendered the 
commission of Brigadier-General of regulars in the State service, 
but declined it, being invited to Montgomery, for which capital he 
set out. Three telegrams had come to him at Richmond from the 
Confederate Government ; but he received only the last, which had 
reached him through Mr. Mallory ; the former having been sent 
through Gen. Lee, who, feeling the need of his services at Rich- 
mond, had suppressed them. At Montgomery he received one of 
the first four commissions of Brigadier-General that were issued; 
and was afterwards made one of the four full Genei'als who were 
commissioned, and who ranked in the following order : Samuel 
Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. 
Lee. 



B4& GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

From Montgomery, Gen. Johnston was ordered to repair to 
Harper's Ferry, and to assume command of the troops in that 
quarter. Gen. Beauregard had already been transferred from 
Charleston, South Carolina, to the command of the army which was 
collecting near Alexandria. Gen, Johnston arrived at the Ferry on 
the 23d of May, where he found Col. Thomas J. (" Stonewall ") 
Jackson in charge, and on the following day assumed command of 
the forces afterwards designated as the Army of the Shenandoah. 
Gen. Johnston did not entertain the thought for a moment of hold- 
ing Harper's Ferry longer than should be necessary for removing 
the machinery, arms, and military material which it contained. It 
was the very ideal of a cul de sac. The village, with the govern- 
ment workshops and armory, was situated on a tongue of land 
thrust in between two considerable rivers, peculiarly difficult of 
passage, except on bridges of wood, which might be easily destroy- 
ed. On the Maryland side the position was commanded by a 
bold mountain rising abruptly from the Potomac. On the south, 
dt was as effectually commanded by the Loudoun Heights, a spur 
of the Blue Kidge rising immediately from the waters of the 
Shenandoah, The space between the rivers in rear of the village, 
was blockaded by high altitudes called Bolivar Heights. It afford- 
ed no protection to the valley, as a strategic position, and could be 
flanked by way of Martinsburg on the north, and Leesburg on the 
south. Before reaching Harper's Ferry, Gen. Johnston had de- 
termined to withdraw the army from the place as soon as the valu- 
able material it contained could be removed ; to which object he 
immediately devoted all his energies — a labour which had been 
well begun by Col. Jackson. 

He had determined from the first to make Winchester his 
.military and strategic base. It was the centre to which several 
great roads converged, from all points of the compass. It was also 
central with reference to the crossings of the Potomac River, and 
the line of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. From this position 
lie could observe Gen. Patterson, who soon showed himself, at the 
head of an army from Pennsylvania and Maryland, at Williams- 
port; and also look after McCIellan, who was moving in North- 
western Virginia. Winchester was a centre from which he could 
Strike in detail the armies threatening the Valley at different points 
of an intended circumference, and still hold himself in readiness 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 347 

for carrying into execution his cardinal idea of repairing at the 
proper moment to Manassas Junction, to take part in the decisive 
battle that was sooner or later to be fought there. For this latter 
movement he early and repeatedly, through official and private 
means, sought authority from the Confederate government. He 
also solicited permission to evacuate Harper's Ferry. 

While the rapid evisceration of this latter post was yet going 
on, Gen. Johnston's conjectures, expressed in Washington city 
before the campaign had opened, soon began to be realized. A 
powerful Federal army was in the course of rapid organization 
under the immediate eye of Scott, near Washington and Alexandria. 
By the 12th June, report came of the advance of a Federal force 
from the Northwest, towards Eomney, and more authentic advices 
that Patterson was approaching the Potomac with an army sup- 
posed to be from 15,000 to 20,000 strong. 

Gen. Johnston thereupon decided that the time had come for 
emerging from his cul de sac, and gaining the open country. Ac- 
cordingly, the great bridge over the Potomac and the factories of 
the government, having been destroyed under the skilful direction 
of Major Whiting, and all available machrnery, stores and arms, 
having been removed, without orders from Eichmond, Gen. 
Johnston, on Sunday, the 16th June, abandoned the Ferry, and 
marched his army out upon the road to Winchester, to a point 
two miles beyond Charlestown. Hence, turning westward, for the 
purpose of confronting Patterson, he assumed a strong defensive 
position at Bunker Hill, on a range of uplands stretching out be- 
tween Winchester and Martinsburg, where he offered Patterson 
battle for a day. At Charlestown he had met a dispatch from the 
government at Eichmond, giving permission to abandon the Ferry, 
but couched in terms which threw the responsibility of the step 
upon himself. At Bunker Hill the temptation was very strong to 
advance upon Patterson, who was then between Williamsport and 
Martinsburg, and endeavour to force on a battle. Had he con- 
sulted the wishes of his army or desired a temporary eclat^ he 
would have taken that step. But he had no belief that Patterson 
would consent to fight a serious engagement ; and to follow him 
far enough and long enough to force one on him, conflicted with 
his fixed determination not under any circumstances to be decoyed 
beyond supporting distance of the army of the Potomac under 



348 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

Beauregard. If Patterson were willing to fight at all, his own 
presence at Bunker Hill afforded an opportunity for doing so ; 
and a battle would be had without placing an impracticable dis- 
tance between himself and Manassas. It will be found in the se- 
quel, that when the moment for joining Beauregard did arrive, 
and he was much nearer to Manassas than Bunker Hill, a part of 
his army, for lack of transportation, failed to reach the field of 
battle in time to give assistance. It was natural for his troops, 
who did not understand his design, to chafe under his inaction 
at Bunker Hill, and we find even Col. Jackson himself writing 
thus from near Winchester, on Tuesday the 18th : " Yesterday 
we were to have marched at sunrise, and I had hoped that in the 
evening or this morning, we would have engaged the enemy; but, 
instead of doing so. Gen. Johnston made some dispositions for re- 
ceiving the enemy, if they should attack us; and thus we were 
kept until about noon, when he gave the order to return towards 
Winchester. When our troops, on Sunday, were marching on 
the enemy, they were so inspirited as apparently to forget the 
fatigue of the march, and though some of them were suffering from 
hunger, this and all other privations appeared to be forgotten, and 
the march continued at the rate of about three miles per hour. 
But when they were ordered to retire, their reluctance was mani- 
fested by their snail-like pace. I hope the General will do some- 
thing soon." There is no severer proof of a great soul than to be 
capable of withstanding the reproaches of even the good and wise, 
in the steady pursuit of a noble purpose, which only the uncertain 
future will develop, and only success can justify. 

From the camp near Winchester Col. A. P. Hill was sent 
towards Romney to drive back the enemy who were making 
demonstrations in that quarter, and whom he drove before him 
through Romney and Cumberland, and along the Baltimore and 
Ohio Railroad some distance further, where he destroyed a bridge. 
At the same time Col. Jackson was sent with his brigade to Mar- 
tinsburg, thence to observe the enemy, who had retreated across the 
Potomac. Here he destroyed extensive workshops and depots, 
forty locomotives, and some three hundred burden cars. 

It has been asked by this latter soldier's biographer, why thia 
property had not been withdrawn by way of Harper's Ferry before 
that place was abandoned ? The inquiry is as applicable to Col. 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 349 

Jackson, who was in command at tlie Ferry until the 24th May, 
as to Gen. Johnston, who commanded afterwards until the 15th 
June. Gen. Johnston has answered for both himself and his pre- 
decessor, by saying : 

" Col. Jackson's course was probably prompted by the con- 
sideration that directed mine, and gives the authority of his great 
character to my course. It would not have been right on our part 
to seize the property of that road before the evacuation of Harper's 
Ferry, nor politic to commit such an act of war against citizens of 
Maryland, when we were receiving so much aid from that State, 
and hoping for much more. The seizure or destruction of that 
property by us could have been justified only by the probability 
of its military use by the enemy. That probability did not appear 
until about the time when Col. Jackson received the order in ques- 
tion; then, being unable to remove, we were compelled to de- 
stroy it. 

" But the most valuable part of this property, the engines, could 
not have been removed in the manner pointed out. Up to the time 
of evacuating Harper's Ferry, we were removing the machinery 
for manufacturing small-arms, as fast as it could be transported on 
the railroad, to Winchester. To expedite this work, I proposed to 
borrow engines from the Baltimore and Ohio Eailroad, but was 
assured by the engineers of both roads that that to Winchester, 
especially near Harper's Ferry, where it was supported on trestles, 
was not strong enough to bear those engines, which were much 
heavier than those for which it was constructed, and that if brought 
upon that road they would inevitably crush it. This would have 
stopped the removal of the machinery from Harper's Ferry, which 
was far more valuable to the Confederacy than all the rolling-stock 
of the Baltimore and Ohio Eoad." 

Remaining north of Martinsburg, with Col. J. E. B. Stuart's 
cavalry in his front, until the 22d July, Col. Jackson that day 
had an engagement with Patterson, who had again returned to the 
southern bank of the Potomac, and who hoped to crush the small 
force that had now ventured within his reach. He was met by 
Jackson near Falling Water Church, at Haine's farm, and was 
repulsed. Receiving reinforcements, Patterson made a second 
advance, and suffered a second repulse. By this time, discovering 
the exceedingly disproportionate force of Jackson, Patterson 



350 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

extended bis infantry with design to envelope Jackson by throw- 
ing both wings around him. After a spirited resistance of three 
hours' duration, Jackson withdrew, skirmishing sharply as he 
retreated, until he met Johnston's army, four miles south of Mar- 
tinsburg, advancing to his support, in full hope of a general 
engagement with the enemy. The hope was disappointed ; Pat- 
terson falling back towards the Potomac, with a loss of forty-five 
prisoners, captured by Stuart, and a large number of killed and 
wounded. Johnston, thereupon, again massed his forces near 
Winchester. 

He was now more satisfied than ever that Gen. Scott's design, 
in placing Patterson in the Valley, was to distract attention from 
the grand movement which he was preparing for the principal 
advance to Richmond. Accordingly, he renewed the request 
which he had hitherto made, for orders to join Beauregard when 
the proper emergency should arise, and busied himself in prepar- 
ing Winchester for defence by a small force. On the evening of 
the 17th July, Major Whiting (afterwards Maj.-Gen. Whiting, 
killed in command of Fort Fisher) brought him intelligence from 
Stuart that Patterson was again advancing in force. Johnston at 
once remarked that they would immediately hear that McDowell 
was also advancing in force on Beauregard, from Alexandria. For 
some time previous to this date he had established a system of 
regular couriers for communicating, at intervals of a few hours, 
with Beauregard, whose opinions of the strategy of Gen. Scott 
coincided with his own. The two Generals had already concerted 
the purpose of combining their forces whenever the critical moment 
should arrive, and had both solicited authority from Richmond for 
executing their foregone determination. 

About half-past one o'clock at night the courier from Beaure- 
gard brought a dispatch giving intelligence that McDowell was in 
motion from Alexandria. Johnston had already directed Stuart 
to ascertain, as soon as practicable, whether Patterson's movement 
was a feint or for the purpose of a serious engagement. In the 
latter event he determined first to fight and beat Patterson, and 
then proceed to Manassas. He directed Stuart, if he should become 
satisfied that Patterson was making a feint, to stretch out his cavalry 
in that General's front, and screen as long as possible his own 
intended retirement towards Manassas. 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON" JOHNSTON".' 351 

During the night of the 17th he received a communication from 
the government, giving the long-sought permission to make the 
junction with Beauregard ; but it was coupled with a condition 
that he should first move his sick from "Winchester, where he had 
established them in comfortable hospitals, to the rear of Manassas, 
at Culpeper Court-House. His army being composed of fresh 
troops, and his raw soldiers afflicted with the diseases incident to 
an unusual mode of life, his sick numbered about twenty-five hun- 
dred. It was impossible, therefore, to execute the order from 
Richmond. But Winchester having been tolerably well covered 
by defensive works, Gen. Johnston placed the militia of the Valley, 
about twenty-five hundred strong, under the command of Gens. Car- 
son and Meem, in front of the place, and left his sick in the hospitals. 

By ten o'clock in the morning of the 18th, he learned from 
Stuart that Patterson's movement was a mere demonstration, and 
that he had posted his own cavalry as desired. Johnston, there- 
fore, at once gave orders for putting his army in motion. The 
effective force which set out in this movement was 11,000 men. 
The plan was, to march to Piedmont, a railroad station, twenty- 
three miles from Winchester, and there take trains for Manassas, 
thirty-four miles further. The despondency of the troops was 
excessive during the first day's march ; they thought they were 
running away from Patterson. After crossing the Shenandoah, 
however, the General caused them to be relieved from this depres- 
sion by the enlivening assurance that they were marching to engage 
in a great battle. His order making the announcement was in 
nervous words that thrilled the troops. "Our gallant army under 
Gen. Beauregard," he said, *' is now attacked by overwhelming num- 
bers ; the Commanding General hopes that his troops will step out 
like men, and make a forced march to save the country." 

The army reached Piedmont, by detachments, during Friday, the 
19th, and then, as fast as transportation was aff'orded, took trains for 
Manassas. Col. Jackson's brigade embarked early on Friday. But 
great embarrassment was experienced in procuring trains in time for 
the prompt transportation of the whole command. Some of the 
force did arrive in time for the ensuing battle; others did not 
arrive until the middle of the day of the battle. It resulted that 
of the whole force of 1 1,000, 8,300 took part in the engagement, 
and 2,700 arrived too late. 



352 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

Gfiru Johnston's survey of the field of Manassas. — He indicates the enemy's design 
to flank the Confederate left. — His anxiety about Patterson's movements. — Plan 
of attack upon Centreville. — Why it failed. — Non-arrival of part of the Army of 
the Shenandoah. — Popular misrepresentations of the battle of Manassas. — The 
real plans of action on each side. — How Gen. Johnston overlapped the flanking 
movement of the enemy. — His orders to Gen. Bonham to attack on Centreville. 
The most brilliant opportunity of the day lost. — Gen. Johnston's published rea- 
sons for not attacking Washington. — This explanation criticised. — Evidence of 
McClellan. — The Confederate Army demoralized by their victory. — Sequel of Ma- 



Gen. Johnston did not reach Manassas in person until the 
afternoon of Saturday, the 20th July. Unable from the lateness 
of the hour to examine the field, he spent several anxious hours 
with Gen. Beauregard, whom he ranked, in studying the maps of 
the ground. For reasons about to be given, he declined to change 
in any respect the dispositions of that officer. The principal point 
for decision was, where to place his own army, just arrived and 
still arriving. Gen. Beauregard was in possession of what he 
deemed authentic intelligence, that McDowell's purpose was to 
turn the right of the Confederate army ; and there can be no im- 
propriety in stating, what was well known to those who had op- 
portunity of receiving the information, that Gen. Beauregard 
firmly believed that the enemy's intention was to turn his right. 
Gen. Johnston dissented from this opinion. He thought a feint 
would be made on the right ; but was well persuaded that if a 
flanking movement was designed, of which he had no doubt, it 
would be directed around their left. He gave cogent reasons for 
this belief. The country on the right was very hilly and broken, 
and the stream of Bull Run in that quarter deeper and more difii- 
cult of passage than it was several miles above on the left. The 
march in that direction would be at once arduous and hazardous. 
Moreover, to flank on that side would require a longer detour, 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTONS'. 353 

would throw McDowell further from "Washington, and place him 
in greater danger of being cut off. An attack in front was equally 
improbable. That of the 18th had been either a serious engage- 
ment or a feint. If serious, its failure had taught that Beaure- 
gard's lines were too strong for direct assault. If a feint, its ob- 
ject must have been to withdraw the attention of the Confederates 
from the real purpose. Besides, Johnston had served much with 
Gen. Scott, and knew his partiality for flanking movements. 
Therefore it seemed conclusive to him that the left was in most 
danger. Accordingly, Gen. Johnston disposed all the force that had 
arrived from the Valley in positions to be available on the left, if 
the enemy should take the offensive ; leaving Gen. Beauregard's 
previous dispositions of his own troops for the present unchanged. 

But here another and a more potential consideration must not 
be overlooked, as has uniformly been done by those who have de- 
scribed this battle of Manassas. Gen. Johnston had suddenly 
disappeared from before Patterson's front in the valley, where the 
enemy then had an army of 25,000 men. If the public have 
since dropped Patterson from all consideration in connection with 
Manassas, Gen. Johnston could not afford at that time to presume 
upon the inactivity of so large an army well provided and equipped. 
He naturally expected — he was bound to expect — that Patterson 
would follow him by forced marches immediately on discovering 
his disappearance. It was practicable for Patterson to reach 
Manassas by the night of the 21st; it was possible for some of his 
brigades to appear on the field during the advanced hours of that 
day. It was, therefore, of vital necessity to beat McDowell on 
the 21st, before Patterson could come up with his heavy rein- 
forcements. 

Gen. Johnston had taken measures to insure the arrival of his 
own. army from the Valley by the night of the 20th ; and up to 
his separation from Beauregard had not received intelligence of the 
collision of trains which had detained two of his brigades, and was 
still ignorant of the cause of detention. 

Confidently calculating upon the presence, and readiness to move, 
by an early hour the next morning, of the whole army of the Shen- 
andoah, and determined to bring on a decisive battle before Pat- 
terson could arrive, he had readily acceded to Beauregard's bold 
and able suggestion, that they themselves should assume the offen- 

23 



35-1 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

sive, and march, by four o'clock in the morning, with their whole 
forces, by all the roads, upon Centreville. This movement, however, 
was delayed so long the next morning, by the non-arrival of Elzey's 
and Kirby Smith's brigades from the Yalley, as to afford time to 
the enemy to progress far in his aggressive movement. The discov- 
ery of this movement relieved one source of anxiety by giving 
assurance of the certainty of a battle with McDowell before Patter- 
son could arrive on the field in force. It was this intention of 
assuming the offensive, and of making avail of all the roads 
leading to Centreville, that prevented a concentration of troops 
towards the left at as early an hour on the next morning as would 
have seemed proper in the light of the momentous events which 
soon transpired in that quarter. 

If the offensive movement upon Centreville, which had thus 
been concerted between Johnston and Beauregard, had been carried 
into execution, it would have proved one of the most decisive 
recorded in history ; for it turned out that McDowell put the body 
of his army in motion as early as one o'clock A.M. of the 21st, from 
Centreville, in the direction of Sudley Ford; leaving behind only 
the corps of Gen. Miles, 11,000 strong. lie would therefore have 
been struck by Johnston's whole army of about 30,000 men in rear 
and flank, and irretrievably cut off from Washington. This bril- 
liant movement was prevented by the collision of trains, supposed 
to have been the contrivance of a treacherous Northern conductor, 
which occurred on the day before, on the Manassas railroad, and 
which delayed the two brigades that had been due on the 20th; 
counting which, the attacking Confederate army would still have 
embraced but little more than half the numbers of the enemy in- 
tended to be assailed. 

Many absurdities have been written about the battle of Man- 
.assas, and Gen. Johnston has been popularly overlooked in the 
common narratives of that field, or represented at disadvantage. 
There is, however, good reason to believe that while Gen. Beauregard 
persisted in the idea that the attack of the enemy would come from 
the right, Gen. Johnston had juster conceptions of the field, and 
was prepared to meet the whole width of the enemy's designs. 
His soldierly courtesy and gentlemanly deference to Beauregard 
have been interpreted into an abnegation of the chief command; 
and his resolution to leave temporarily undisturbed the dis|)ositions 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 355 

■whict had been made by his predecessor in command, for receiving 
an expected attack on the extreme right, or throwing the army 
offensively on Centreville, has been taken as proof of a serious 
belief on his part, that the enemy's principal assault, if he should 
assume the offensive, would be made in that direction. The biog- 
raphers of officers who held subordinate rank in the affair have 
added to the confusion of the narration ; each representing his hero 
as executing his own conceptions of strategy with sovereign 
obliviousness of the orders of superiours, and roaming over the 
field at will, selecting each for himself the place of glory, and 
making of his own person the pivot on which the fortunes of battle 
revolved. These pretentious narrations are as discreditable to 
their authors as defamatory to the reputations of the noble 
soldiers wdio are thus victimized. 

The battle of Manassas, though as important and eventful a one 
as ever was fought, was yet, in its plan, both of attack and defense, 
as simple and intelligible as was ever lost and won. The details, 
though generally given with excessive dramatic exaggeration, much 
needing the pruning-knife of truthful and conscientious precision, 
have been too frequently recited to admit of lengthy repetition. 
Gen. McDowell's plan of battle was to turn the Confederate left, 
which he attempted with a force in motion of 40,000 regulars and 
volunteers, against a force actually engaged of only 15,000 volun- 
teers. A wooded country and a night march enabled him to mask 
his purpose during the early hours of the morning of the eventful 
2l8t July, 1861 ; and, by a simulated movement against the Con- 
federate right and centre, in which he displayed artillery and infan- 
try, he was able to fix there, for a time, the Confederate troops 
which had been posted for an advance upon Centreville. His suc- 
cess in this plan of battle depended upon celerity of movement, 
a heavy concentration of troops in the point to be assailed before 
time should be afforded bis adversary for bringing up opposing 
forces, and steady valour and intrepidity on the part of his men. 

The Confederate plan of defense, as reported to have resided in 
Gen. Johnston's mind throughout the day, was equally as simple. 
As soon as he became satisfied that a decisive battle could be 
insured on that day, and found that the enemy had gained the 
offensive, his own strategy was instantly determined upon. It was, 
under the cover of woods, so to dispose his troops as to overlap 



356 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

the turning column of the enemy, and to take the flanking force 
itself in flank and rear, at the moment it thought to have turned 
his own position. It was his further purpose to project the brig- 
ades of the extreme right, which could be spared from, or were 
unavailable for, the support of the left, directly upon Centreville, 
and thus strike McDowell in rear. His danger consisted in weak- 
ness of numbers, which was aggravated by the failure of two bri- 
gades — Elzey's and Kirby Smith's — which were still en route from 
the Valley, to arrive in time. But chiefly was he anxious and 
apprehensive on the score of Patterson's arrival, and more than 
once during the day descried in the distance indications which 
might have proved to be the heralds of his approach. 

When the enemy's heavy aitack was developed upon the left, 
the fortune of the day depended upon the ability of the Confede- 
rates engaged near the Henry House, to hold their position until 
reinforcements could be brought to their support. While the fate 
of the battle was hanging here by a thread, Elzey's missing brigade 
of the army of the Shenandoah reached Manassas, accompanied by 
Gen. Kirby Smith, whose own brigade was still behind, and who, 
being Elzey's senior, had command of the troops he accompanied. 
Immediately receiving orders from Gen. Johnston to move under 
cover of woods to the left of Jackson and Bee, to observe the 
enemy, and to take care so to place his command as to envelop 
the column by which McDowell was aiming to turn Jackson, 
Smith put his command in motion to fulfil these instructions, and 
rode to Johnston, then at the Lewis House, to receive from him- 
self a repetition of the orders. Thence proceeding to the extreme 
left and overtaking his command, he arrived in time to place it in 
position to surprise McDowell by turning his flanking column, 
and drivinsr it back in disorder. 

While these events were occurring on the extreme left. Gen. 
Early was executing an order to move from the extreme right to 
the left. Arriving near his destination about half-past two o'clock, 
he received an order from Gen. Johnston, precisely similar to that 
which had been given before to Kirby Smith, which he executed 
with equal dispatch, gallantry, and success. 

The flanking columns of McDowell had been first checked and 
held at bay by Jackson, until Kirby Smith by his overlapping 
movement had driven them back from the advanced ground which 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 357 

they had partially gained. Taking time to re-form his column and 
to mass still greater numbers for a second onset, McDowell waa 
making his second grand sweep by a still greater circuit, when 
he was surprised and raked a second time by the overlapping and 
flanking tactics of Early. Just as he was making the great bend 
to envelop Elzey's supposed extreme left, a well-directed fire from 
a park of artillery, admirably posted for the purpose, struck the 
wheeling columns with a raking fire, happily seconding Early's 
final assault upon their flank, completed their discomfiture, and 
threw them into the consternation and panic which impelled them 
in wild confusion back to Washington. 

By the time that this splendid result on the left became evi- 
dent to Gen. Johnston, he had received intelligence of the miscar- 
riage of the morning's orders, which had directed the brigades on 
the extreme right to throw themselves upon Centreville. He now 
instantly dispatched an order to Gens. Bonham and Longstreet, 
who were nearest him, at Mitchell's Ford, to unite their forces and 
inarch with all dispatch upon Centreville. These orders were 
received, and the two brigades were marched in the direction of 
Centreville; but Gen. Bonham, greatly to the chagrin of Gen. 
Longstreet, whom he ranked, determined, after anxious hesitation, 
not to execute the order, for fear that by failure to rout the forces 
of Miles which were nearly double his own, the glory of a brilliant 
victory certainly achieved might be impaired by a partial defeat.* 
Gen. Bonham was as brave and true an officer as served during 
the war; and his unhappy determination, on this occasion, is one 
of those strange phenomena in human action, as inexplicable as 
pregnant with consequences, in which the caprice of a moment 
proves to have resolved the destiny of an empire. 

This account of the battle of Manassas, differing in some im- 
portant respects from the popular versions, indicates especially the 
genius of Johnston on that field. It was his penetration of the 
enemy's designs against Gen. Beauregard's first impressions, and 
his direction of the troops so as to overlap the enemy's flanking 
movement, that furnished most of the generalship of the day, mainly 
won, as it was, however, by the exceeding valour of the Southern 
troops. It was his genius that saw at the close of the day the 

* A friend writes: " Gen. Longstreet never faQs to roh himself of a portion ofhia 
hair when he relates this incident." 



35 S GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON". 

splendid opportunity of throwing bis victorious brigades upon 
Centreville and finishing the enemy, and was disconcerted in such 
dramatic conclusion only by the disobedience of his clear and 
urgent orders. 

But although Johnston was the Commanding General on the 
field, and had taken an independent view of it, it is just to observe 
that in the action of the day there was constant concert between 
him and Gen. Beauregard, and that the battle was delivered mainly 
in the dispositions of the troops made by the latter. There was a 
happy accord between the two Generals in every new movement 
to meet the enemy's design as it declared itself. Gen. Johnston 
has never claimed a monopoly of the glory of Manassas, nor is it 
due to him ; for the part borne by Gen. Beauregard entitled that 
commander to all that can be awarded consistently with what jus- 
tice demands for Gen. Johnston. In truth, the glory of the com- 
mand is a common inheritance for each and for both, which cannot, 
ought not, and needs not, to be partitioned ; and, since the frater- 
nal amenities which a golden page of history describes to have 
subsisted between Eugene and Marlborough, no two commanders 
have appeared that have set an example to their profession of rela- 
tions with each other so generous and kindly as those which John- 
ston established with his equally chivalrous and patriotic associate. 

It has been a trite and voluminous complaint that the victory 
of Manassas was not made more decisive, and that the Confederate 
army should have rested on the field which it had cleared of the 
enemy. We have already discovered the opportunity of aggres- 
sive action in the afternoon of the day of the battle. That oppor- 
tunity was lost, in the first instance, by miscarriage of orders sent 
to the extreme right by Gens. Johnston and Beauregard ; and, 
secondly, by the failure of Gen. Bonham, from an honourable but 
mistaken view of duty, to execute the orders sent him by Gen. John- 
ston. If this blow had been struck, four instead of three of the Federal 
divisions would have been shattered, and the brigades on the Con- 
federate right would have been put so far on the way to Washington. 
But it has been popularly and persistently asked why, when this 
prospect of enveloping the enemy's force, that still stood at Centre- 
ville, was disappointed, the Confederate Generals did not yet pur- 
sue his broken forces towards the Potomac. An explanation of 
this omission of pursuit, which has been so lamented in every 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 359 

Southern commentary on the battle, has been recently given by 
Gen. Johnston himself in a letter printed in the newspapers. In 
this late publication, with the advantage of retrospect, Gen. John- 
ston contends that the pursuit of the fugitive enemy towards x\lex- 
andria and Washington would have been fruitless, and would have 
encountered insuperable obstacles. No more could have been hoped 
from the battle, he declares, than the preservation of the Confederacy, 
and the arrest of the Federal advance towards Richmond. " A move- 
ment upon Washington was out of the question. We could not 
have carried the intrenchments by assault, and had none of the 
means to besiege them. Our assault would have been repulsed, 
and the enemy, then become the victorious party, would have 
resumed their march to Richmond. But if we had captured the 
intrenchments, a river, a mile wide, lay between thera and Wash- 
ington, commanded by the guns of a Federal fleet. If we had 
taken Alexandria, which stands on low and level ground, those 
guns would have driven us out in a few hours, at the same time 
killing our friends, the inhabitants. We could not cross the Poto- 
mac, and therefore it was impracticable to 'conquer the hostile 
capital ' or emancipate oppressed Maryland," 

Ingenious as is this explanation, candour compels us to declare 
that it is deficient, and at important variance with the official 
reports of the enemy himself. The account of Gen. McClellan of 
the state of affairs about Washington, on the heels of the retreat 
from Bull Run, differs materially from the picture drawn by Gen. 
Johnston. He declares that " in no quarter were the dispositions 
for defense such as to offer a vigourous resistance to a respectable 
body of the enemy;" that the earthworks on the Virginia side 
were of the slightest and most trivial character ; and that there 
was nothing to prevent the Confederates from occupying the 
heights, and shelling the city from across the Potomac. But even 
had it been impossible for the Confederates to follow the routed 
army into Washington, that was no reason why they should not 
have followed and harassed it as far as they could. 

The fact is, the omission of pursuit, or its dilatory and irresolute 
character, was a fault, and yet one rather to be ascribed to the con- 
dition of the army than the judgment or temper of the commander. 
Gen. Johnston was not especially responsible for it. His troops 



360 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

•were almost as much bewildered and demoralized"* as those of the 
enemy, and they had won a victory only by a narrow chance, and 
only after the scale of battle had hung for a whole day. Neither 
army knew the damage it had inflicted on the other. Gen. Beau- 
regard bears witness to the disorganization which prevailed in his 
command at the close of the day; and Gen. Johnston adds: 
" According to my information of the disposition of the army, the 
troops believed that their victory had established the independence 
of the South — that all their country required of tliem had been 
accomplished, the war ended, and their military obligations ful- 
filled. They, therefore, left the army in crowds, to return to their 
homes. Such was the report of the Generals, colonels, staff- officers, 
and railroad officials. The exultation of victory cost us more ilian the 
Federal army lost hy defeat.''^ 

It was in this view that the victory of Manassas, whatever it 
exhibited of Confederate valour or skill, was a deplorable event for 
the South — a brilliant frontispiece to a variable and disastrous 
story. In stemming the torrent of swollen hopes flowing from it ; 
in reducing the popular expectation ; and in winning the second 
prize of safety in renewed competition with the enemy, we shall 
hereafter find Johnston more characteristic and admirable than 
when his genius adorned the bloody field. 

* One of the best colonels in Jackson's brigade, Col. James F. Preston, in show- 
ing how unfit for pursuit was that part of the army which had been engaged in the 
action, said, that he hadhimseU' endeavoured, with his superiour's permission, to follow 
the flying euemy, but he found, before he had proceeded a mile, that his regiment 
had dwindled to fifty men, and he was obliged to return. 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 361 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

An early conceit of the Confederate Government. — Unpopularity of Gen. Johnston. — 

He indicates the value of concentration, and proposes an aggressive movement 
across tlie Potomac. — Overruled by President Davis. — Attempt to bring Mc- 
Clellan to battle. — Blockade of the Potomac River. — True theory of the Battle of 
Leesburg, or BaU's Bluff. — Gen. Johnston meditates a retreat from North Vir- 
ginia. — A notable Council of War in Richmond. — Gen. Johnston's advice overruled 
by President Davis and Geu. Lee. — Transfer of Johnston's Army to Yorktown. — 
"Why he abandoned the Peninsula. — Gen. Johnston's share in Jackson's YaUey 
Campaign. — Battle of Seven Pines. — How its results were limited. — Gen. Johnston 
wounded. — He loses command of the Army of Northern Yirginia. 

It was the early conceit of the Confederate Government to 
defend its entire frontier, and to declare that no foot of Southern 
territory sliould be occupied by the invader. This declaration 
was not the mere bravado of the popular orator about the " sa- 
cred soil." It was the deliberate inspiration of the Government 
itself; the military a7ii7)ius of President Davis that determined 
the almost fatal policy of dispersion, and strung the armies of the 
Confederacy on every imaginable line of defence. Against this 
policy Gen. Johnston set his face in the early months of the war, 
and never failed to rebuke the conceit which inspired it, and to 
chasten the foolish expectations of the populace. His severe 
military judgment, his sedate calculations, were not popular; 
and it was only when the people of the Confederacy had been 
sobered by the experiences of the war that they recognized the 
wisdom and excellent generalship of the leader whose counsels 
they had at first condemned as tame, whose precision they had re- 
garded as timidity, and whose opposition to President Davis' policy 
of frontier defence they had treated with suspicion and innuendo. 

But Gen. Johnston's opposition to this policy was founded on 
clear and firm principles of military science, which neither the 
President nor the people then well understood. He knew the 
value oiiha concentration o^^oYCQB, in war; that such concentration 
was, indeed, the condition of vigorous war, the necessary means 
of striking the enemy with effect, and making decisive fields. 



362 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

It is remarkable that shortly after the battle of Manassas, when 
President Davis was on a visit to the headquarters of the army, 
Gen. Johnston submitted a plan illustrating the value of concen- 
tration, and proposing it as a preliminary for an aggressive cam- 
paign. He was sustained in his views by Gens. Beauregard and 
G. W. Smith. These Generals urged the immediate concentration 
in that quarter of the greater part of the forces dispersed along 
the sea-coast at Pensacola, Savannah, Norfolk, Torktown, and 
Fredericksburg, with which, added to the troops already in hand, 
a campaign across the Potomac should be initiated before Gen. 
McCIellan had completed the organization of his grand army. 
This, they believed, might be done without risk to the positions 
weakened by the measure — though, in fact, the principles of the 
art of war prescribed that places of such relative military unim- 
portance should be sacrificed or hazarded for the sake of the vital 
advantage anticipated. A very considerable army could have 
been thus assembled — larger, perhaps, than either of those which 
subsequently Gen. Lee was able to lead across the border under 
much less favorable military conditions. But the President could 
not be induced to sanction the measure, or to give up his own 
settled policy of dispersion, his waste of defensive resources in 
the attempted defense of every threatened position. 

The counsels of Gen, Johnston for a concentration of forces, 
and a movement into the enemy's territoi'j', being thus rebuffed, 
it only remained for him to develop and improve, as far as 
possible, the immediate field he occupied. As soon as the 
condition of his commissariat and appliances for transporta- 
tion M'ould permit, he threw forward his forces successively to 
Fairfax Court-House, Munson's Hill, and Mason's Hill — to cover 
as much as possible of the country. Here the Confedei'ate flag 
was flaunted in full view of the capital of the Union. From 
these advanced positions he withdrew to Centreville early in the 
fall, for convenience of supplies, and fortified that position with 
some care. Much attention had been paid before to Manassas, and 
more continued afterwards to be paid by himself to blockading 
the Potomac river with batteries and strong earthworks, planted 
at different positions along its right bank as far down as Acquia 
Creek. One of the principal of these batteries was at the mouth 
of the Occoquan, whence a straight line down through Centre- 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 363 

ville strikes the Potomac river at the bend beyond Drainesville, 
which line is the diameter of a circle of which the bend of tlie 
Potomac around by Washington is nearly the arc, and of which 
Centreville is nearly the centre. From this latter position he could 
Btrike in flank any column of the enemy attempting to advance 
by the line of the Alexandria and Gordonsville Railroad, whether 
it should take the northern route, by way of Edward's Ferry, or 
the southern, from the mouth of the Occoquan towards Manassas. 

He was well advised of the formidable preparations which 
McClellan was making at Washington for a second onward 
movement, and of the magnitude of the army which he was then 
amassing, organizing, instructing, and reducing to discipline. 
As time progressed he became more and more apprehensive that 
his adversary would relinquish the design of advancing upon 
Richmond by the Manassas route, and substitute the line from 
Fredericksburg, or from some still more eastern base on the 
waters of the Chesapeake — a cliange of programme becoming 
more and more practicable with the rapidly increasing proportions 
of the Federal navy. He therefore the more diligently laboured 
on the batteries of the Potomac, in order, if an advance were made 
at all from any part of the line of that river, he might force its 
being made from near his own front ; and in order, if McClellan's 
army should be embarked at Annapolis, it should be for the line 
of the Rappahannock, or of the York, or for some other destina- 
tion so remote from Washington as to afford himself time for 
changing his own base, and confronting McClellan ere he could 
disembark at any point in front of Richmond which might be 
selected as most eligible. This work was pushed with so much 
energy and skill, that, by the first of October, 1861, the flag- 
officer of the Potomac Federal flotilla officially reported the 
navigation to be effectually closed. Thus was the Federal capital 
besieged as to its water approaches; and the Government was 
under the humiliating necessity of deriving all the supplies 
needful for the immense army that it was organizing and amass- 
ing there, as well as for the civil population, by the costly means 
of a limited and precarious overland transportation. 

I^or was Gen. Johnston negligent, during this period, of the 
important duty of thoroughly organizing his own army. Warn- 
ed by the assiduity of his adversary in this regard, he devoted 



364: GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

much anxious and laborious attention to this vital subject ; and, 
though his troops consisted almost wholly of twelve uiontbs' vol- 
unteers, officered hj the vicious system and demorahzing method 
of election, it may be safel}' asserted that he soon succeeded in 
making them, if not as efficient as regulars, yet a more thorough- 
ly disciplined and efficient army of volunteers than had ever 
been seen before. The truth ought not to be invidious; and 
therefore it should give no offense to state the fact, that the dis- 
cipline of the Confederate army was never afterwards so good as 
it was during the months of 1861 succeeding the conflict of 
Manassas. During the same important months, McClellan was 
creating by thorough organization and instructions that army of 
the United States which subsequently conquered the Mississippi 
Yalley, conquered Lee, and conquered the Confederacy ; and 
General Meade more than once remarked with truth, " that if 
there had been no McClellan, there would have been no Grant." 
The same remark can be applied to Johnston ; who had the 
more difficult task of using volunteers as material. The officers 
whose names afterwards became most renowned in the Confed- 
eracy, learned the art and trade of war from this able captain. 
McClellan did not command at many victories; but the officers 
and soldiers whom he had trained, and educated, and formed 
into an army, all continued until the end to ascribe to him a 
large share of the success that attended them on every theatre 
of the war. So it is with the officers and soldiers who were 
educated in warfare by Johnston. He was much removed 
from command; but his genius remained with the veterans he 
had formed, and those who best knew his service award to him a 
share in all the glories that attended in its resplendent career 
the Army of Northern Virginia. 

Johnston succeeded in his purpose of preventing any attempt- 
ed advance from the line of the lower Potomac. He expected 
the intended advance to be made by the way of Edward's Ferry 
and Leeslourg on his left ; and posted General Evans in that 
quarter with a force of 2,300 men. He intentionally made it 
too small for effectual resistance against an advance in force. 
But he desired that a large portion of the Federal army making 
the movement should succeed in effecting a crossing of the Po- 
tomac ; and intended, when as many should have crossed as he 



GENERA.L JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 365 

should think proper to permit, to throw his army upon them in 
flank and rear, making an easy prey of those who should have 
passed on the march, and seizing positions to prevent reinforce- 
ments from the other side of the river. 

Accordingly, when the affair of Ball's Bluff took place, on 
the 21st October, just after a strong reconnoissance by McCall on 
Drainesville the day before, General Johnston was well pre- 
pared to believe, what is now denied by writers on the Federal 
side, that the crossing of the river by Stone's command on that 
occasion was the initiation of an advance in force upon Manassas 
and Richmond ; — and this impression derived strength from the 
known presence of McClellan in person, at the time, in that 
vicinity. Truth to say, Gen. Johnston found the inactivity of 
his adversary as difficult of divination as President Lincoln did 
himself. He supposed that McClellan then had, as it turns out 
that he did have, at least seventy-five thousand men available 
for another advance upon Richmond, after sparing full as many 
more for the protection of the capital. So, expecting an early 
movement in force, and himself believing that the route by Ed- 
ward's Ferry, Leesburg and Ball's Bluff was the most advisable 
one for the enemy to select, he was full ready to expect an 
early advance on that line. It is true, as he knew very well, 
that the opinion then prevailed and was inculcated in Washing- 
ton, that the advance would be made by the Occoquan ; but 
he was for that reason the more confident that the real de- 
sign was to move by his left. He therefore had purposely 
placed in the neighbourhood of the Bluff so small a force as to 
encourage the belief in his adversary that he could be surprised 
on that side; and when Gen. Evans made the gallant defence 
which inflicted so heavy a loss upon McClellan and so great a 
mortification upon the whole North — a defence which effected 
a complete check of the expected movement — Gen. Johnston 
could not help remarking to a confidential friend who was with 
him, that he had made a capital mistake in placing so gallant an 
officer and determined a fighter as Gen. Evans in a position 
which he did not desire to be seriously defended at the begin- 
ning of McClellan's movement ; for he considered that the 
splendid conduct of Evans and his brigade had forestalled the 



366 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

Confederacy of another brilliant victory, more decisive than that 
which had been won just three months before. 

Disappointed of an advance on the part of McClellan, and for- 
bidden, by the great strength of that General in his front, from en- 
srao'ino: himself in offensive measures, Gen. Johnston was obliged 
to remain for some time as inactive, in all outward appearance, 
as his adversary. The inactivity was not his own, but that of 
his triply-stronger opponent. His effective strength during this 
period scarcely reached fifty thousand men of all arms, though 
his muster-roll numbers were generally thirty-three per cent, 
greater. As already intimated, both Generals were bending their 
foremost attention to the instruction and perfection of their armies, 
content to amuse the public with light affairs in the field; so that 
this period, though exhibiting no important ostensible events, was 
made busy with preparations that were destined to exert a pro- 
found influence upon all the succeeding operations of the war. 

Thus affairs went on in North Virginia until late in the winter 
of 18G2 ; chequered only by subordinate affairs at arms, more 
appropriate for detailed mention by the circumstatial historian, 
than in these pages. Having withdrawn from Centreville to 
Manassas, Gen. Johnston had become aware, by midwinter, that 
an advance by the Piedmont route of Virginia was no longer in- 
tended at Washington. The batteries on the Potomac had there- 
fore lost their principal importance. His own position, even at 
Manassas, was found too far advanced for convenience of sup- 
plies, and his opponent's force was growing, fearfully dispropor- 
tioned to his own. As it became more probable that the advance 
upon Kichmond would be made from the lower waters of the 
Chesapeake, it became more important that his own army should 
be placed in supporting distance of that in the Peninsula. He 
therefore began quietly to remove the cannon that could be 
spared, and to fill their places with blackened logs shaped into 
simulation. The enemy had advanced to Centreville, but quite 
failed to discover his proceedings. His plan was to place his 
array, when all valuable property had been removed from 
Manassas, on the line of the Rapidan, in position to move as 
events might determine. These preparations began as early 
as the middle of February, 1862. By March it had become 
poeitively known that Yorktown was McClellan's destination; 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON". 367 

and Gen. Johnston went personally to the Peninsula to observe 
the ground, and to confer with Gen. Magrnder. 

On his return through Richmond, he held a council of war 
with the principal officers of the government, at which were pres- 
ent, by his request, Gen. Longstreet, and probably Gen. G. "W. 
Snoith. In that council he earnestly advocated the policy of a 
general concentration of forces. He thought the Army of North- 
ern Virginia ought not to be taken to the Peninsula, but placed 
in position to be able, at the proper moment, to throw itself 
before Richmond. He recommended that every available regi- 
ment of the Confederacy within reach of Richmond should be 
ordered to that vicinit}'- without delay. And he was of opinion 
that McClellan should not be seriously opposed in his landing at 
Torktown and progress up the Peninsula, but that he should be 
allowed to separate himself by a considerable distance from his 
shipping, and then strike a decisive blow with all the power of 
the Confederacy. His counsels did not prevail, both Mr. Davis 
and Gen. Lee dissenting; and, accordingly, he received orders 
•which left him no choice but to march his army from the Rapidan 
to Yorktown. Tlius again was the policy of concentration dis- 
carded — only to be forced at last upon the government by the 
pressure of events. 

The evacuation of Manassas, which had been effected on the 
8th March, had been executed in a masterly manner. The 
enemy's first intelligence of the event was the smoke which arose 
from the burning huts of the soldiers. All the material, baggage 
and stores properly appertaining to the army had been removed. 
Property was indeed left, but it was of the sort that had been 
accumulated either without Gen. Johnston's knowledge or con- 
sent, or was in the form of irregular and volunteer donations of 
the people to the soldiers. A large meat-curing establishment, 
which iiad been erected by the government in the vicinity, was 
left, with a considerable supply of the meat which it contained ; 
and this, with some of the stores that had been sent by States and 
friends to the soldiers, and much baggage of the soldiers (the 
privates then had trunks), was abandoned, but everything was 
removed that belonged to the jurisdiction of the Chief Quarter- 
master of the army. Even these classes of property would have 
been carried away but for a deficiency of railroad transportation. 



368 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

The breaking up at Manassas, after so long an occupation, was 
of advantage. After it, the army was thoroughly mobilized, and 
became like tlie athlete when stripped for combat. 

The Army of Northern Virginia went to the rear of the Rapi- 
dan ; Gen. Swell's division being sent to the aid of Jackson, who 
commanded another portion of it in the Yalley. McClellan was 
soon engaged in transporting his army of 150,000 men to the 
Peninsula. He arrived at Fortress Monroe in person on the 2d 
April ; on hearing of which event Gen. Johnston marched his 
army into the Peninsula and took position in Magruder's lines. 
Here he expected an attack from the formidable army which vast 
fleets were landing in his front ; but no attack was made. McClel- 
lan began to ditch, and resolved to carry the works of Magruder 
by " regular approaches." McClellan's army, on the spot and 
within call, numbered three or four to one more than that of 
Johnston. The latter had been directed to take command of the 
armies of the Peninsula, and of the seaboard at Norfolk. The 
march into the Peninsula, he was instructed, was for the purpose 
of affording time to Gen. Huger to dismantle the fortifications 
of the latter place, destroy the naval establishment, and evacuate 
the seaboard. 

On the night of the 3d May, Johnston abandoned Magru- 
der's lines in consequence of ascertaining that batteries for about 
one hundred 200-pounder Parrott guns and thirty heavy mortars 
were ready to be opened upon them ; — batteries which com- 
manded Yorktown, but were out of reach of Magruder's inferiour 
guns. Gen. linger had now also effected all that had been con- 
templated at Norfolk. The evacuation of Yorktown was thor- 
ough, all valuable property being removed. The disappointment 
of the enemy's engineers in being cheated of an interesting and 
successful cannonade on an unusually grand scale, was excessive. 

Except the incidents of the action of the Confederate rear- 
guard at Williamsburg, and the affair of Barhamsville, the re- 
treat of Joiinston towards Richmond was uninterrupted. The 
leisurely deliberation with which he was allowed to march his 
army to the Confederate capital was the subject of severe ani- 
madversion upon McClellan ; the Committee of Congress on the 
Conduct of the War remarking censoriously — " The distance be- 
tween Williamsburg and the line of operations on the Chicka- 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 369 

hominy was from forty to fifty miles, and the army was about 
two weeks in moving that distance." 

"When Gen. Johnston arrived before Kichmond, that city, as 
we have seen, was threatened from several directions. McClel- 
lan was before it with a force of all arms, not far short of 150,000 
strong ; McDowell was at Fredericksburg with an army of 30,000 ; 
Banks in the lower Yalley with 16,000 ; and Fremont making 
way into the upper Yalley with 15,000 men. The entire force 
of Johnston, near and distant, including Jackson and Ewell, did 
not much exceed 60,000 fit for duty ; of whom rather more than 
50,000 were immediately with him. It was of the utmost impor- 
tance that a diversion should be created by which the auxiliary 
armies not yet with McClellan should be occupied and detained 
at a distance. For this purpose Johnston had some time before 
given an order to Gen. Jackson to employ his discretion as to the 
manner of best accomplishing the object, but to keep the Wash- 
ington authorities in such alarm by his operations in the Yalley 
for the safety of their capital, as to fix as considerable a number 
as possible of Federal troops within call of that city, and prevent 
their coming to McClellan. It has been abundantly stated else- 
where with what consummate skill and success this service was 
performed by Jackson ; but Johnston's share in the glories of 
this campaign, as its author, although popularly overlooked, is 
none the less to be recognized in the just text of history. These 
glories are ample enough for distribution, and, after the sovereign 
chaplet is gathered for Jackson, " the Sword of the Confederacy," 
there is enough to adorn the genius of Johnston that also shone 
in the splendid story, and claims a portion of its honours. 

An opportunity soon occurred, notwithstanding the excessive 
caution of McClellan, for Johnston himself to strike an impor- 
tant blow. In choosing the Pamunkey river as his base of action 
against Richmond, McClellan had thrown himself upon a field 
of operations which was divided from his base by the Chicka- 
hominy, a river of peculiarly difficult passage for military pur- 
poses, being flanked by wide marshes covered with thick small- 
growth. In bringing his army before the lines which defended 
the city, he had by the 30th May thrown two of his corps — those 
of Keyes and Heintzelman — over upon the right bank of the 
river, while his three remaining corps were still on the left bank. 

24 



370 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON". 

For the passage of one of these corps, that of Sumner, two bridges 
had been constructed ; and there was no practicable means by 
which the other two corps could effect the crossing except by a 
detour of twenty-three miles. 

The opportunity thus presented was not lost by Johnston. 
He issued orders on the 30th for a battle on the next day. Huger 
was to assail the enemy on his left flank ; Longstreet and D. H. 
Hill in front, and G. "W. Smith on the right flank. But Long- 
street and Hill were not to move until Huger should have got 
into position ; and G. W. Smith's movements, after getting into 
position, were to be contingent upon Lougstreet's. A heavy rain 
fell on the night of the 30th, which Johnston regarded as highly 
favourable, as tending to assure the impracticability of reinforce- 
ments being sent to the enemy from across the river ; though, by 
swelling the smaller streams and softening the earth, it materially 
impeded the movement of his own columns. 

On the 31st the attack was accordingly made ; but made after 
a delay of several hours. Gen. Huger was prevented by high 
water from reaching the position assigned him ; and Longstreet 
and Hill, after waiting several hours for his arrival as their signal 
for action, moved upon the enemy's position without it. Though 
the flank movement failed to be made, the front one was as suc- 
cessful as gallant, and the enemy's positions were carried with 
heavy loss to them. The delay of the attack in front had post- 
poned Smith's movement upon the enemy's right flank until the 
afternoon. It was then made, but was robbed of its results by 
the arrival from beyond the river of a part of Sumner's corps, 
that had crossed on one of the bridges already mentioned ; the other 
having been swept away by the swollen waters of the Chicka- 
horainy. Thus a victory was won, but the two corps were not 
destroyed, and so the object of the engagement failed. The be- 
haviour of the Confederate troops was excellent. McClellan 
reported his loss at somewhat less than 6,000, but it was nearer 
ten thousand. The Confederate loss was four thousand ; but 
among the dangerously wounded was Gen, Johnston himself, who 
was struck by the fragment of a shell upon the chest, which 
broke several ribs, severely contused the lungs, and disabled him 
for more than twelve months. 

The action of the 31st was known as the Battle of Seven 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTOTST JOHNSTON. 37 X 

Pines, and was the last which Gen. Johnston was permitted to 
fight on the soil of his native State. Himself it cost dearly. It 
cost him his health and bodily strength for more than a year, 
during part of which time he took upon himself the labour of 
responsible service. It cost him what he prized "far more than 
health, for he lost the command of the Army of Northern Vir- 
ginia, to the formation of which he had devoted the most earnest 
labours of his life. 



372 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 



CHAPTER XXXni. 

Gen. Johnston's designs against McClellan. — Why he considered his wound fortun- 
ate for the Confederacy. — Anecdote of a dinner-party in Richmond. — Gen. John- 
ston's mission to the "West. — True nature of his appointment and powers. — 
Rather a Local Secretary of War than a Commanding-General. — Interesting con- 
ference between Geu. Johnston and Secretary Randolph. — He proposes to make 
one military department of the whole Mississippi Valley. — Gen. Johnston's visit 
to Bragg's Army. — The defence of Vicksburg. — Antecedents of Gen. Pember- 
ton. — Detailed account of the correspondence and relations between Gens. John- 
ston and Pemberton. — Gen. Johnston's orders twice disobeyed. — His last order, 
" Hold out," as involving the fate of the Confederacy. — Surrender of Vicksburg, 
and its train of consequences to the close of the war. 

It bad been Gen. Jobnston's intention to follow up tbe advan- 
tage gained on the 31st May by continuous attack upon the por- 
tion of McClellan 's army on the right bank of the Chickahominy, 
giving him no time to intrench. From the experiment made, it 
had been found that the Confederate troops were in admirable 
temper for aggressive measures ; and that the enemy, just arrived 
amid strange scenes and in an exposed position, were in a mood 
very favourable for being beaten. It would scarcely have been 
practicable for the Federal General-in-chief to send reinforce- 
ments across the swollen Chickahominy as rapidly as they would 
have been required. But dispatch was of the essence of success 
to Johnston's plans ; and his untimely fall brought the campaign 
which he had so vigorously initiated to an abrupt termination. 
In the few days of delay incident to a change in the chief com- 
mand, McClellan had consolidated his army, and placed it 
beyond danger from assault in detail. He set himself again 
about his " regular approaches," in which he was not molested, 
and from which he was not driven, until a month later, when 
those brilliant offensive operations occurred, under Lee and his 
Lieutenants, which will forever shed lustre upon the arms of the 
Confederacy. 

Tliese notable operations were rendered practicable by a 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 373 

rapid concentration of troops in Kiclimond from all parts of the 
conntrv ; which was effected during the month of June, and 
which began immediately after the Battle of Seven Pines. A 
friend who came to Richmond on receiving intelligence of John- 
ston's injury, and who attended him at his bedside, told him of 
the activity he had observed on his way, in the movement of 
troops towards Richmond. Johnston's countenance immediately 
lighted up with pleasure. " Then," said he, " my wound was 
fortunate ; it is the concentration which I earnestly recom- 
mended, but had not the influence to effect. Lee has made 
them do for him what they would not do for me." 

It was notorious in the Confederacy that President Davis had 
conceived a strong dislike of Gen. Johnston. The sturdy inde- 
pendence of the latter, his utter disdain of all personal intei*- 
mediations, were not to the President's taste ; the vigour and 
mathematical precision of his language had more than once got 
the better of Mr. Davis' high-flown rhetoric and wounded his 
vanity ; and his severe reprehension of oflicial pragmatism and 
weakness in Richmond had drawn upon him all the malicious 
and intriguant spirit then resident in the Confederate capital. 
Congressman Foote, in a recent publication, has noticed an inter- 
esting social event which took place in Richmond just before 
the battle of Seven Pines. " I chanced," relates this curious 
and communicative individual, " to be invited to a dinner- 
party, where some twenty of the most prominent members of 
the two houses of the Confederate Congress were congregated, 
including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Orr, 
of South Carolina, and others of equal rank. Gen. Joseph E. 
Johnston was also an invited guest. While the banquet was 
proceeding, Mr. Benjamin's gross acts of oflicial misconduct 
becoming the subject of conversation, one of the company turned 
to Gen. Johnston, and inquired whether he thought it even 
possible that the Confederate cause could succeed with Mr. Ben- 
jamin as war minister. To this inquiry, Gen. Johnston, after a 
little pause, emphatically responded in the negative. This high 
authority was immediately cited in both houses of Congress 
against Mr. Benjamin, and was in the end fatal to his hopes of 
remaining in the Department of "War." 

The unfortunate wound of Gen. Johnston withdrew him for 



37-i GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

a long time from public notice. His confinement was tedious 
and full of suffering. His affliction was a frightful bruise, in- 
volving the fracture _^f several ribs, producing an obstinate adhe- 
sion of the lungs to the side, and a constant tendency to pleurisy. 
His symptoms required the most active treatment with bleed- 
ings, blisterings and depletions of the system. Long after he 
had apparently recovered, and felt himself restored to normal 
health, exposure or exertion would produce a recurrence of 
unpleasant symptoms in the weakened parts. It was not until 
late in the year that he could venture to report himself for duty, 
which he did with distrust. Even as late as March in the fol- 
lowing year, he had to decline the personal command of Gen. 
Bragg's Army of Tennessee, from frail health ; and as late as 
May Y, just before going from Tullahoma to Mississippi, he 
wrote, " I have been unfit for field service, and find that I can- 
not bear rapid motion — especially that of a horse." 

In the latter part of 1863, when Gen. Bragg had retreated 
from Kentucky, much popular dissatisfaction was felt with that 
officer. There was also a general feeling that the Confederate 
affairs had been wretchedly managed throughout the West ; and 
there was a wide-spread desire that some officer of ability and 
reputation should be assigned to that important tiieatre, who 
might restore the fortunes of the Confederacy from the dilapi- 
dation into which they were falling. Public opinion soon be- 
came so pronounced in favour of the assignment of Gen. John- 
ston to the "West, that it could no longer be deferred. 

His appointment was not agreeable to Mr. Davis, but was 
made under the coercion of public opinion. Orders were given 
to Gen. Johnston, on assigning him to that field, of a peculiar 
and unusual character. He was deputed on a mission, not as- 
signed to a command. As to the Army of Tennessee, he was 
instructed to look into the condition of affairs there, and to re- 
lieve Bragg if the public service should require it. As to the 
Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, and that of Ala- 
bama, embracing the army at Mobile, his mission likewise was 
supervisory. In his own language, expressed shortly afterwards, 
in a private letter not until now published, "Never was a Gen- 
eral in a more unsatisfactory position than that assigned to me. 
A sort of supervisory command of three departments, each too 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 375 

weak to take care of itself; of course, therefore, they cannot 
help each other, being all pressed or threatened by greatly supe- 
riour nnmbers. Each department has its peculiar commander. 
The object of the government was, to have some one at hand to 
unite the forces in Mississippi and Tennessee in whichever might 
be first attacked. To transfer any body of troops of useful num- 
ber would require at least a month, yet the government seems to 
have intended to operate in l^apoleon's manner, without consid- 
ering the difference between the extent of front upon which he 
manoeuvred and the distance from Tullahoma to Yicksburg. Yet 
the President had a lesson in December which should have 
taught something. When Pemberton was falling back in Mis- 
sissippi, he transferred three brigades to his army from Bragg's. 
They arrived in Mississippi after Grant had been compelled to 
fall back by our cavalry operating in his rear. But while they 
were on the way, Rosecrans attacked Bragg at Murfreesboro. 
So, these troops left Tennessee too soon, and reached Mississippi 
too late ; a sort of thing that may always happen when it is ex- 
pected that armies a month apart shall reinforce each other on 
emergencies." 

Gen. Johnston was thus put in the "West, not with a com- 
mand, but simply as an officer superiour in rank to each of those 
respectively commanding, in order to do, on an emergency, just 
what should be done before the happening of the emergency. 
True, he had authority to assume the command of Bragg's army, 
but it was to be done under circumstances so invidious as not to 
be thought of. Up to that time Gen. Bragg had simply been 
unfortunate, and had done his duty according to the best of his 
ability. It was unusual for one General to pass condemnation 
upon another by relieving him of command and assuming that 
command himself. It was to be both judge and executioner. 
Johnston was incapable of performing a part so unchivalrous, 
ungenerous, and invidious, and of such hurtful precedent and evil 
tendency. When he reached Bragg's army he reported credita- 
bly of him, and disdained to rob him of his command. 

Thus his new appointment was a mission, and not a military 
command. There were three armies in an equal number of de- 
l)artments in his new jurisdiction : one at Mobile, under Gen. 
Maury ; another at Murfreesboro', under Gen. Bragg ; and the 



376 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

tliirtl about Yicksburo;, under Gen. Pemberton. He was nom- 
inally the superiour officer, as tbe Secretary of War was tlie chief 
of all the Generals ; but his real control was naught. He could 
not withdraw the armies from the points they defended, and con- 
solidate them ; he could only reinforce one of them by detach- 
ments from another. They were each commanded by the re- 
spective Generals placed over them by the President; and as 
every reader of the newspapers saw each morning, they reported 
their actions, not through Gen. Johnston, but directly to Rich- 
mond. Being each favourites to whom the President was partial, 
they could each disobey Johnston's orders with impunity, as was 
sadly and conspicuously proven by that disobeyal of Pemberton 
which resulted in shutting up his army in Yicksburg and losing 
twenty-three thousand men to the Confederacy. Johnston went 
to the "West somewhat in the character of a local Secretary of 
War. 

Before receiving the formal order assigning him to that anoma- 
lous service, he was invited to a conference with the then Secre- 
tary of "War, Mr. Randolph, in his chambers. * He here freely 
developed his opinions on the situation of the West. He thought 
the entire Mississippi Yalley should be one department, under 
one command. The Yalley was a unit ; nor did the river affect 
its unity. The measures for its defence ought to comprehend the 
whole Yalley and both sides of the river. It ought to be under 
one command and one head. The proper defense of Yicksburg 
would require the cooperation of troops on both sides of the 
river ; and this could not be efficient unless both armies were 
under the direct orders of one superiour officer. These should 

* The interview with Secretary Randolph occurred about the middle of Novem- 
ber, 1862. The orders assigning Gen. Johnston to the West were dated on the 24th 
November, 1862. In his letter acknowledging the reception of these two orders, he 
recommended that Gen. Holmes' troops in the Trans-Mississippi should be ordered 
to the Department of Mississippi. Secretary Randolph had issued such an order, 
and President Davis, on hearing of it, had written a note to Mr. Randolph, directing 
a suspension or revocation of it. Secretary Randolph soon resigned ; it is believed 
on account of the disagreement. Gen. Cooper, Adjutant-General, had reported the 
effective force under Gen. Holmes at over fifty thousand men. Grant was then in- 
vading North Mississippi, and there were no Federal troops of importance known to 
be in Holmes' department but the garrison at Helena. The orders of Gen. Johnston 
for the West, as signed by Secretary Seddon (Secretary Randolph having resigned 
before they were issued), directed him to make his headquarters at Cliatianooga. 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTOIST JOHNSTON. 377 

proceed from a General in the field, and near to the scene of ac- 
tion. He thought that, by concentration, the offensive should be 
assumed in Tennessee. In these views Secretary Randolph ex- 
pressed himself as fully concurring ; but, unfortunately, the ser- 
vices of that sterling officer were in a few days lost to the Con- 
federacy by his resignation and retirement from the War Depart- 
ment. Immediately after this conference, Johnston proceeded 
on his Western mission. 

After visiting Bragg's army, and advising the retention of 
that General in command, he proceeded to Alabama and Missis- 
sippi for the purpose of looking personally into the condition of 
the service ; spending at first most of his time at Jackson. The 
subject here invites to a description of the country which he was 
to supervise, the armies which he was to look after, and the 
complicated dangers of w^hich he was to admonish. But that 
task belongs to regular history, and exceeds the province of a 
memoir; whicli concerns itself more immediately Avith the man, 
and the impress he made upon his times. With the details of 
military operations he had little to do. Nor were there any very 
important occurrences that marked the interim of winter and early 
spring between his arrival in the West and his assumption of 
command in the field before Jackson in the succeeding May, 
under the painful circumstances about to be reviewed. 

While in Mobile, on the 12th March, 1863, he received an 
order to repair at once to Tullahoma, in Middle Tennessee, thence 
to order Gen. Bragg to Richmond, and to take command of that 
army. He immediately proceeded to Tullahoma. His own 
state of health proved to be such as to unfit him for field-service , 
and for this and other reasons, Gen. Bragg could not be spared. 
These facts he reported in Richmond. 

From the time of liis arrival at Tullahoma, until the Idth 
April, the reports of Gen. Pemberton from Yicksburg, all by 
telegraph, indicated quietude in that direction, and a belief that 
the efforts of the enemy were directed against Gen. Bragg rather 
than himself. He seemed to share the then prevailing popular 
impression, that the operations of Gen. Grant against Yicksburg, 
which had been unsuccessful at Milliken's Bend, above the city, 
had been suspended. By April 15, this impression had be- 
come so fixed that Pemberton telegraphed to Johnston: — "I am, 



378 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

satisfied RosecraDS will be reinforced from Grant's army. Shall I 
order troops to Tullahoma?" By the ITth, Grant had reappeared 
in another quarter, had changed his position from above Vicks- 
burg, and gone below, where he had recommenced operations. 
Big Black Hiver, a deep sluggish river, flanked by marshes, runs 
in the rear of Yicksburg, and empties into the Mississippi below 
it at Grand Gulf. Off from Grand Gulf, in a south-east direc- 
tion, on a bayou, is Port Gibson, at more than a day's march dis- 
tance from the Mississippi. On the 29th, advices came from 
Pemberton that Grant was at Hard Times, on the west, with an 
apparent purpose of crossing to Bruinsburg, on the east bank of 
the Mississippi. On the 1st May, Pemberton advised by telegraph, 
that "a furious battle was going on since dayhght, just below Port 
Gibson." He continued, "I should have large reinforcements. 
Enemy's movements threaten Jackson, and if successful [will] 
cut ofi" Yicksburg and Port Hudson." Gen. Johnston at once 
urged him to concent/rate and to attack Grant immediately on 
his landing. On the next day the order was repeated in the fol- 
lowing memorable words : " If Grant crosses, unite all your troops 
to beat him. Success will give back what was abandoned to win 
it." Gen. Johnston remained at Tullahoma long enough to cor- 
respond by telegraph with the government at Richmond, inform- 
ing them that reinforcements could not be sj)ared from Bragg 
" without giving up Tennessee," and urging as many brigades to 
be spared from the East as possible. Hearing by the 5th nothing 
of the battle at Port Gibson, from Pemberton, he asked by tele- 
graph, " what is the result, and where is Grant's army?" but 
received no reply, and knew nothing of what was transpiring 
until he reached Jackson, on May 13; whither he repaired 
with all speed immediately on receiving orders to that effect from 
Richmond, dated on the 9th May. In a private letter writ- 
ten at Tullahoma on May 7 — the same letter from which an 
extract has been given on a preceding page, and which should 
now be referred to as deriving a greater significance from the 
circumstances which surrounded him— =he wrote: "Mississippi is 
invaded by an army fifty per cent, greater than ours, and our 
General can't comprehend that by attempting to defend all valu- 
able points at once, he exposes his troops to be beaten every- 
where, I have urged him to concentrate to fight Grant ; but 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGG-LESTOX JOHNSTON. 379 

with no hope tliat he will regard a suggestion of mine." It 
turned out that the invasion was by an army more than two 
hundred per cent, greater than the opposing one. It is now time 
to understand who Lieut.-Gen. John C. Pemberton was, wliom 
Gen. Grant had thus so misled and surprised. 

He was a native of Pennsylvania, and, in the old service, had 
been a captain without distinction ; had graduated an engineer ; 
had become commissary ; and for some time had acted as aide-de- 
camp. Until his appearance in Mississippi, it is stated that he 
had never commanded troops in action ; not a regiment, not a 
company, not a man. Some time after the fall of Fort Sumter, 
he resigned and came to the South ; was made a colonel, and be- 
came chief of Gen. Huger's artillery at l!^orfolk. He found no 
opportunity in the stationary campaign near that city to demon- 
strate a military superiority ; but he was soon a Brigadier; then 
a Major-General ; then in command of an army, and of an inde- 
pendent post no less important than that of Charleston. Here 
he had no fighting to do, but was so unfortunate as to become 
disagreeable to the country he was in. ^Nevertheless, he was 
selected for one of the seven great commissions authorized by 
the Confederate Congress, and made a Lieutenant-General over 
the head of Gustavus W. Smith, who had been esteemed in the 
old army the superiour of Gen. McClellan ; over D. H. Hill, the 
hero of Boonsboro ; over A. P. Hill, the Blucher of Sharpsburg, 
whose name rose like a star in the bulletin from every battle- 
field, until it went out with the lost cause at the final battles 
before Petersburg ; over all the brilliant young Southern men 
who had really done the fighting of the war. Nor was that all, 
nor the worst. To the astonishment of beholders, he was placed 
over the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, and in 
the command at Vicksburg. Much was felt, but nothing was 
said about it at the time. The most serious matters were then 
passed over without discussion, because of the obligation which 
all men felt to bear and forbear, as much as safety would permit, 
until the war was over. Up to the afiairs before Yicksburg, he 
had inspired no confidence in the population of Mississippi, or 
in the troops of his department. It has been shown that Gen. 
Johnston gave orders to him in no hope that they would be either 
understood or obeyed. 



3S0 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

Geii. Johnston had been peremptorily ordered to Tullaboma 
in March, in consequence of unpleasant relations which subsisted 
between Gen. Bragg and several of his principal officers. From 
this position he did not receive orders transferring him to Missis- 
sippi, until the 9th Maj, when affairs there bad grown des- 
perate. It is to be regretted that he bad not been sent sooner. 
When a bad chess-player has already lost a game, the greatest 
master cannot always take his pieces and redeejn it. The rein- 
forcements be solicited from the East could not be spared from 
within reach of Yirgiuia ; the disastrous invasion which culmi- 
nated at Gettysburg being then in preparation. 

It had been his opinion, from the beginning, that the offensive 
should be assumed in Tennessee, which he regarded as the "shield 
of the South ; " and by May, at latest, he had become convinced 
that Yicksburg had lost its chief value, from the fact that steam- 
ers had already run the gauntlet of the most formidable batteries 
on the Mississippi, and had virtually opened that river to the 
enemy's naval operations. He had some time before remonstrat- 
ed earnestly against the transfer of the three brigades which 
have been mentioned, from Tennessee to Mississippi ; and he went 
now to the latter State, determined, since the government so in- 
sisted, to defend Yicksburg, but to do so by operating in the open 
field ; and, at all events, to save its army, if it should prove out 
of his power to save both army and town. The secondary object 
became impracticable from the greatly preponderating army of 
Gen. Grant, which proved to be little short, all told, of 80,000 
men. The primary object failed, in consequence of a fatal diso- 
bedience of orders on the part of Gen. Pemberton. 

Gen. Johnston learned on his arrival at Jackson, on May 
13, that Gen. Grant had beaten Gen. Bowen, after a gallant 
resistance, at Port Gibson ; had occupied Grand Gulf, and was 
marching upon the Jackson and Yicksburg railroad. He found 
six thousand men at Jackson, and learned that five thousand 
others would join him the next day. Gen. Pemberton's force 
was at Edward's Ferry, east of the Big Black, nearer to Yicks- 
burg than to Jackson ; the General himself was west of the Big 
Black, at Bovina, closer still to Yicksburg. Four divisions of 
the enemy, under Sherman, were at Clinton, ten miles west of 
Jackson, between Pemberton and the Confederate forces at Jack- 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 381 

son ; and other large forces of the enemy were south-west of Clin- 
ton, abont Raymond, and in the direction of Bruinsburg. This 
situation of affairs had already rendered the case of Vicksburg 
desperate ; and the evident policy was either to attack Sherman, 
front and rear, and crush him, or to combine the two fragments 
of the Confederate army at some point north of the line of rail- 
road, the enemy's army and base being on the south of it. 

Gen. Johnston, therefore, on the night of his reaching Jack- 
son, in the same dispatch in which he informed Pemberton of 
his arrival, ordered him to come upon Sherman's rear at once, 
promising that he would himself cooperate in front ; and adding : 
" To beat such a detachment would be of immense value. The 
troops here could cooperate. All the strength you can quickly 
assemble should be brought. Time is all important." He set 
himself immediately about removing the public stores from 
Jackson, which he had effected by two o'clock in the afternoon 
of the next day. The enemy on that day, the 14th, advanced on 
Jackson, from Clinton and from Raymond, which latter place is 
south-west of Jackson, on the road from Grand Gulf. At the 
hour named, it had become necessary for Gen. Johnston, with 
the commands of Bragg, Gens. Gregg and Maxcy, eleven 
•thousand strong, to move out of Jackson, which he did by a 
northward road, and encamped six miles from the town. Rein- 
forcements were then making their way towards him from the 
east, which he hoped would be able to prevent the enemy in 
Jackson from drawing supplies from that direction ; while his 
own force would cut off supplies from the direction of Panola to 
the north. Of these facts he informed Gen. Pemberton by a 
dispatch dated on the afternoon of the 14th, in which, after allud- 
ing to his hope of driving the enemy out of Jackson, by cutting 
off his supplies from the east and north, he asked: — "Can he 
supply himself from the Mississippi ? Can you not cut him off 
from it ? And above all, should he be compelled to fall back for 
want of supplies, beat him? As soon as the reinforcements are 
all up, they must be united to the rest of the army. I am anx- 
ious to see a force assembled that may be able to inflict a heavy 
blow upon the enemy. * * * *. Gen. Gregg will move to- 
wards Canton to-morrow. If prisoners tell the truth, the forces at 
Jackson must be half of Grant's army. It would decide the 



382 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON". 

campaign to beat it, which can be done only hy concentrating^ 
especially when the remainder of the eastern troops arrive ; they 
are to be twelve or thirteen thousand." In the same dispatch 
he directed that the " forces to supply Yicksburg " should be so 
disposed that they might unite, if opportunity to fight should 
present itself. With the eleven thousand already with Johnston, 
the number which could have been concentrated would have 
been nearly 30,000 ; the movement westward was for the pur- 
pose of favouring a junction with the twelve thousand additional 
troops coming from the East. This important dispatch was not 
answered, not having been received until more than forty-eight 
hours after its inditement ; Gen. Pemberton having, by a dis- 
obedience of the preceding order, got entangled into an unin- 
tended engagement with the enemy, w^liich prevented the possi- 
bility of such a combination of forces as Johnston had devised, 
and which compelled his retirement within the lines of Yicks- 
burg, On the 15th Johnston marched ten and a half miles to 
Calhoun station, where he at length received a communication 
from Pemberton, which if it did not altogether surprise, filled 
him with distress. He immediately ordered him to move 
directly to Clinton. 

General Pemberton's letter was dated on the 14:th, at 5.40 
P.M., and read as follows : — " I shall move, as early to-morrow 
morning as possible, a column of seventeen thousand to Dillon's 
[which was in the direction of Raymond]. The object is to cut 
ofi" enemy's communications, and force him to attack me, as I do 
not consider my force sufiicient to justify an attack on the enemy 
in position, or to attempt to cut my way to Jackson," This was 
written at Edward's Depot, ten hours after his receiving John- 
ston's order to move upon Clinton as quickly as possible ; which 
had been given with a view to a combination of their two forces, 
which could have been effected on the 15th. Instead of such a 
combination, that day was to witness a march of 17,000 men in 
a different direction, involving a fatal dispersion of forces, fol- 
lowed by a train of irremediable disasters. What made this dis- 
obeyal of orders more aggravating was, that it had been com- 
mitted after calling a council of war, composed of all his Gener- 
als present; a majority of whom had advised obedience. How 
prescient had been the remark of Johnston, in his unofficial let- 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 3 S3 

ter from Tullalioma, — " I have urged him to concentrate to fight 
Grant, with no hope that he will regard a suggestion of mine ! " 

Gen. Grant, having heard of Pemberton's movement, directed 
against him the two corps of McClernand and McPherson, 
and ordered Sherman to evacuate Jackson and take a similar 
direction. Bj the night of the 16th, Pemberton was still 
on the road to Raymond, heavily beset by vastly superiour 
forces of the enemy. In the morning he had received Gen. 
Johnston's second order to move directlj^ to Clinton ; and at six 
P.M. he received Johnston's order of the afternoon of the 14:th, 
directing a concentration of troops northward of the railroad. 
The order received in the morning he disobeyed. On receiving 
the older one in the evening, Pemberton issued an order for a 
countermarch, and informed Johnston of the fact, as also that 
heavy skirmishmg was then going on in his front. But he had 
gone too far ; he was unable to retrace his steps ; the enemy 
had cut him off from Johnston ; he was already involved in the 
necessity of fighting a battle the next day. This was fought in a 
bend of Baker's Creek ; and he suffered a heavy loss in brave 
men and able officers, among whom M-as Gen. Tilghman. Gen. 
Loring was cut off and made his way to Johnston, after losing 
his artillery. The rest were forced back to the Big Black, and 
took a strong position on the east bank, in a bend of the river. 
But the troops had become too much disheartened by these ap- 
palling blunders to make a fight. They left their position at 
the first onset from the enemy and went within the lines of 
Yicksburg, leaving eighteen field-pieces to the victors. Pem- 
berton reports that the retreat " became a matter of sauve qui 
peutP It was on the afternoon of the 17th May, that they 
reached the shelter of the Vicksburg earthworks. On the same 
day. Gen. Johnston was marching fifteen miles westward hoping 
to find them, but uncertain where they were. 

The fate of Yicksburg was then sealed. It was a trap to have 
been avoided, and not sought. But with singular infatuation. 
Gen. Pemberton had persisted in regarding it as his final shelter 
from all disasters. Gen. Johnston afterwards, in an official 
report, wrote truly : " Had the battle of Baker's Creek not been 
fought. Gen. Pemberton's belief that Yicksburg was his base, 
rendered his ruin inevitable. He would still have been besieged, 



384 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

and tlierefore captured. The larger force he would have carried 
into the lines would have added to and hastened the catas- 
trophe. His disasters were due, not merely to his entangling 
himself with the advancing columns of a superiour and unobserv- 
ed enemy, but to his evident determination to be besieged in 
Yicksburg, instead of manoeuvring to prevent a siege." 

In reply to the communication in which Gen. Pemberton in- 
formed him of his intended withdrawal within the lines of Yicks- 
burg, Gen. Johnston wrote at once, on May 17 : " If Ilaynes' 
Bluff be untenable, Yicksburg is of no value, and cannot be held. 
If, therefore, you are invested in Yicksburg, you must ultimately 
surrender. Under such circumstances, instead of losing both 
troops and place, you must, if possible, save the troops. If it is 
not too late, evacuate Yicl-:s})urg and its dependencies .^ and march to 
the noi'th-easty But Gen. Pemberton went back into Yicksburg. 

These events and records leave no doubt of the judgment 
proper to be rendered upon them. There is no room for contro- 
versy on the subject, although until after Gen. Johnston's official 
narration of them was published, which was not permitted until 
the following year, much was indulged in. The friends of Gen. 
Pemberton, following that officer himself, laid much stress upon 
the language employed in Gen. Johnston's dispatch of May 14, 
alluding to the enemy's supplies while at Jackson, and asking if 
Gen. Pemberton " could not cut him off" from the Mississippi — 
a dispatch which had not been received until the second day 
after the fatal movement towards Dillon's had been made, but 
which was claimed to have suggested the very movement which 
Gen. Pemberton had resolved upon before receiving it. But 
Gen. Johnston repels this pretension, by saying, in his report : 
" When the enemy was at Jackson, the letter [of the 14th] sug- 
gested a movement for the sole purpose of dislodging him, and 
so stated. Gen. Pemberton's march, with whatever purpose 
made, was begun after the enemy had abandoned Jackson, and 
was almost in his presence. My order of the 15th, at which time 
I should have joined Gen. Pemberton to take immediate com- 
mand of the main army, but that I was till too weak to attempt 
such a ride, which was received by him early on the morning of 
the 16th, required him to abandon that movement. Had he 
obeyed it, the battle of Baker's Creek would have been escaped." 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON". 885 

The trapping of Gen. Pemberton in Yicksburg had been the 
inevitable result of two disobediences of orders — the order of the 
13th to attack Sherman in front at Clinton, and the order of the 
15th to move directly to Clinton, whence Sherman had removed 
to Jackson the day before. The loss of Yicksburg, which had 
ceased to be a position of peculiar military value, was thus ren- 
dered unavoidable. We are now to witness another disobedience 
of orders, which resulted in the loss of the arm}^ of Yicksburg. 

" Convinced," says Gen. Johnston, " of the impossibility of 
collecting a sufficient force to break the investment of Yicksburg, 
should it be completed; appreciating the difficulty of extricating 
the garrison, and persuaded that Yicksburg and Port Hudson 
had lost most of their value by the repeated passage of armed 
vessels and transports, I ordered the evacuation of both places. 
Gen. Gordon did not receive this order before the investment 
of Port Hudson, if at all. Gen. Pemberton set aside this order, 
under the advice of a council of war ; and though he had in 
Yicksburg eight thousand fresh troops, not demoralized by 
defeat, decided that it was impossible to withdraw the army from 
the position with such morale and material as to be of further 
service to the Confederacy, but ' to hold Yicksburg as long as 
possible, with the firm hope that the Government may yet be 
able to assist me in keeping this obstruction to the enemy's free 
navigation of the Mississippi River.' Yicksburg," he went on 
to say, " was greatly imperilled when my instructions from 
Tullahoma to concentrate were neglected. It was lost when 
my orders of the 13th and 15th May were disobeyed. To this 
loss were added the labour, privations, and certain capture of a 
gallant army, when my orders for its evacuation were set aside." 

The investment of Yicksburg by Gen. Grant, with an army 
double the size of the Yicksburg garrison and of all under Gen. 
Johnston's immediate command combined, was speedily com- 
pleted. By a letter from Gen. Pemberton, dated the iTth, at 
Yicksburg, and received on the 18th, Gen. Johnston was informed 
that he had ordered Haynes' Bluff to be abandoned, and that he 
had retired within the intrenchments of Yicksburg. He added 
reproachfully, " I greatly regret that I felt compelled to make an 
advance beyond the Big Black, which has proved so disastrous 
in its results," as if his army was not already at Edward's Depot, 

25 



386 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTOJST. 

seven or eight miles east of the Big Black, expecting a battle 
there as early as the 12th, a day before Gen. Johnston's arrival 
at Jackson. 

There was nothing now left to be done but to extricate the 
garrison ; or, failing the attempt, to hold the position so long that 
disease and fever should work such havoc among the besieging 
host, as to make its capture cost him more than victory was worth. 
But Gen. Johnston's greatest desire was to concert some plan by 
which, his own army assisting, the garrison might be enabled to 
eifect its escape. Cooperation was also hoped for, and, through 
Richmond, ordered, from the troops in the Trans-Mississippi de- 
partment. 

A stringent siege and vigorous series of assaults were inau- 
gurated against Yicksburg by the besieging army. They were 
repulsed with as much facility as gallantry. They were accom- 
panied with such terrible loss to the assailants, and were so in- 
nocuous to the assailed and their fortifications, that they soon 
demonstrated to the learned and unlearned in military affairs, 
that Yicksburg was one of those places so fashioned by nature 
and art as not to be taken by assault. The Federal General, hav- 
ing satisfied himself of the inefiicacy of all other methods, soon 
determined that a long siege, a circumvallation and complete 
blockade, were the only means by which the town could be 
touched. He erected extensive batteries, built a military road, 
and protected his external lines from the operations of Gen. 
Johnston by a gigantic ditch and abattis, which were themselves 
protected by the difiicult bottoms and channel of the Big Black 
River. 

Gen. Johnston, expecting a compliance with his orders for the 
evacuation of Yicksburg, dated on the 17th, moved with liis force 
to Yernon, for the purpose of effecting a junction with Pember- 
ton, but there received a reply, stating that a different course had 
been resolved on. To this information he replied : " I am trying 
to gather a force which may attempt to relieve you. Hold out." 
And then, by easy marches, he moved in the direction of Jack- 
son and Canton, in order to reestablish his communications, ex- 
pecting reinforcements from the eastward. 

The force now under his command was an unprovided body 
of troops, assembled hurriedly from different directions, under 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 887 

the pressure of the occasion, without the numbers, or consistency, 
or any of the furniture of an army. His business was first to 
create, out of the scanty material in hand, an army which should 
be capable of acting ofiensively against another three times its 
number, strongly intrenched, furnished with the most abundant 
and approved appliances of modern warfare, and posted in the 
rear of a considerable river. By the 4th June, the little force 
which he was organizing into an army had grown to the dimen- 
sions of twenty-four thousand infantry and artillery, and two 
thousand cavalry. But it was still deficient in artillery, in am- 
munition for all arms, and in field transportation. It was pecu- 
liarly unadapted for operations against a superiour force already 
intrenched, in an unassailable position. 

With this army, which was not materially increased after- 
wards, Gen. Johnston hoped to be able to give such assistance as 
to create an opportunity for the escape of the garrison ; and he 
simultaneously informed both the Department at Richmond and 
Gen. Pemberton that this was his only hope and only plan. 
Meantime, Milliken's Bend, above Yicksburg, had been captured 
by troops from the Trans-Mississippi army ; and Gen. Kirby Smith, 
commanding on that side, had instructed Gen. Richard Taylor, 
at Richmond, Louisiana, to endeavour to open communications 
with Yicksburg, with eight thousand men. On the 22d June 
Gen. Johnston got advices from Gen. Pemberton, dated on the 
15th, stating that he could hold out twenty days longer ; to which 
he replied, informing him of Gen, Taylor's intended movement, 
and adding that he would in a day or two make a diversion in 
his favour, though it would be with only two-thirds of the force 
which Gen. Pemberton had stated to be the least with which it 
ought to be attempted. On the 29th of June, field transportation 
and supplies having been at length obtained, Gen. Johnston 
marched westward, and on the 1st July encamped near the 
Big Black. While here, arduous and careful reconnoissances 
were made, first on the north of the railroad, and these proving 
unsuccessful, then on the south of it, with a view to an attack. 
On the 3d, intelligence was sent to Gen. Pemberton of his inten- 
tion to attack on the Tth ; but on the 5th the tidings were received 
of the memorable surrender which had taken place on the day 
before ! 



388 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

As the officer in command bad manifested so persistent a pur- 
pose to hold Yicksburg, and to sacrifice so many considerations 
to that one object, these tidings gave Gen. Johnston a painful 
surprise. The capitulation, in the event of a failure of the gar- 
rison to cut its way out, was of course an event inevitable. It 
was so thought to be by himself and the public. It was not 
supposed that a position, so wedged in between navigable rivers, 
could withstand to the end a power combined from every avail- 
able resource of the enemy. It was the abruptness of the sur- 
render that was complained of; and the dissatisfaction was 
heightened by the selection that was made of the day for the 
performance of that solemnity. The public did not desire a use- 
less postponement of an event inevitable. Much was to be gained 
by chaining Gen. Grant down to the siege for as long a time as 
possible, in the midsummer of a most critical campaign. It 
would occupy, for the time being, an army of the enemy esti- 
mated at from 60,000 to 100,000 strong. It would hold that 
army pent up in an unhealthy locality, where the climate would 
soon have put it in a condition unfit for offensive operations for 
the residue of the campaign. It would give time to the authori- 
ties of the Confederacy to organize an army under Johnston fully 
adequate to the vital purpose of the defense of the Gulf States. 
It would prevent reinforcements from being sent to Rosecrans, 
and save Tennessee, that "shield of the South," as the event 
proved. It would afford time for Johnston to educate to his 
hand another constellation of officers, whose names should be a 
counterpart to those of Ewell, Jackson, the Hills, Stuart, Rodes, 
and others, whom he had left in Virginia. The importance of 
time to Gen. Johnston's condition could not be calculated. It 
was in this point of view that a protracted resistance at Yicks- 
burg, even at the expense of hardship and privation to its brave 
garrison, had become a matter of the gravest importance. It 
could avail, indeed, nothing for Yicksburg, but it would save the 
Gulf States. Gen. Johnston did not often waste words. But in 
that order, " Holdout,^'' was embraced the fate of the Confederacy. 

The tidings of the fall of Yicksburg gave not only distress and 
disappointment to the Southern people, but it gave offence ; and to 
the circumstance that it was arranged to occur on the 4th of July, 
was added the announcement, soon after, that immense supplies of 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 389 

ammunition, clothing, bacon, sugar, molasses, salt, were found in 
the place by the enemy. 

The natural corollaries of the surrender were numerous and 
mournful : — the attack on and defense of Jackson, and with- 
drawal of Johnston to Meridian ; the brilliant but fruitless bat- 
tle of Chickamauga ; the misfortune of Missionary Ridge ; the 
reinforcement and transfer of Sherman to Dalton ; the Confed- 
erate retreat into Georgia; the fall of Atlanta; the desolations 
of Georgia and the Carolinas ; the surrender at Chapel Hill ; 
finally, a lost Confederacy. 

Tlie succeeding pages of this memoir will be no more than a 
review of the consequences of a surrender which was at first 
unnecessary, and wliich, when made necessary, was then prema- 
ture. 

In the report in which Gen. Johnston reviewed the occur- 
rences which have been now detailed, he said : " 1 have been 
compelled to enter into many details, and to make some animad- 
versions upon the conduct of Gen. Pemberton. The one was no 
pleasant task, the other a most painful duty. Both have been 
forced upon me by the ofiicial I'eport of Gen. Pemberton, made 
to the "War Department instead of to me, to whom it was due. 
A proper regard for the good opinion of my government has 
compelled me to throw aside that delicacy which I would gladly 
have observed towards a brother officer, snfi'ering much unde- 
served obloquy, and to show that in his short campaign Gen. Pem- 
berton made not a single movement in obedience to my orders, 
and regarded none of my instructions ; and, finally, did not em- 
brace the only opportunity to save his army — that given by my 
order to abandon Yicksburg." 



390 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 



CHAPTER XXXIY. 

Important supplement to the story of Vicksburg. — President Davis' part in the 
disaster. — Radical difference of military views of the President and of Gen. John- 
ston. — The disaster of Missionary Ridge. — Gen. Johnston takes command of the 
Army of Tennessee. — His successful reorganization of it. — Comparison of forces 
with the enemy. — Gen. Johnston's reasons for withdrawing from Dalton. — Sher- 
man's plan of campaign. — The retreat towards Atlanta and its incidents. — Gen. 
Johnston removed from command. — "AU heU followed." — A sharp dispatch to 
Richmond. — Injustice of the government to Gen. Johnston. 

We must supplement the story of Vicksburg by an important 
explanation. It has not been the design of the preceding pages 
to impeach the integrity of Gen. Pemberton's intentions. In a 
report, supplemental to the principal one, which he made of 
these transactions, he vouched a paper which fully justified his 
conduct, and explained his motives. On the Yth May, the very 
day on which Gen. Johnston was writing from Tullahoma, by a 
remarkable intuition, that he had " no hope that Gen. Pember- 
ton would regard a suggestion " from him, President Davis tele- 
graphed Gen. Pemberton in these words : — "Want of transporta- 
tion of supplies must compel the enemy to seek a junction with 
their fleet after a few days' absence from it. To hold both 
Yicksburg and Port Hudson is necessary to a connection with 
Trans-Mississippi. You may expect whatever it is in my power 
to do."* This order had doubtless been given to Gen. Peraber- 
ton for the purpose of superseding that which Gen. Johnston 
had sent him six days before, from Tullahoma, directing him " to 
concentrate and attack Grant immediately ; " of which Gen. 
Johnston had advised the War Department. 

Here was a command superiour to that of Gen. Johnston, 
which Gen. Pemberton was obliged to obey. He did so, in the 
spirit and in the letter. Whatever may have been the blunders 
that his inexperience in the field might have led him to conmiit, 
it cannot be said that he failed in fidelity to his trust ; or that 
* Confederate Reports on Siege of Yicksburg, &c., p. 209. 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 391 

his disobedience to the orders of his immediate superiour was not 
excused by the order which had come to him from the snperionr 
of both. There was a difference of opinion — an honest difference 
of opinion — between Mr. Davis and Gen. Johnston, as to the best 
policy to be pursued ; a difference which not merely related to 
the case of Yicksburg, but applied to the whole conduct of the 
war. Mr. Davis was for defending a multitude of positions and 
outposts ; — a policy which involved a dispersion of strength. 
Gen. Johnston was for a system of field operations, executed by 
consolidated armies, and maximum aggregations of troops. Mr. 
Davis, just at the period in question, was in favour of suffering a 
siege at Vicksburg and Port Hudson ; standing at bay at Tulla- 
homa; and sending an army of invasion into Maryland. Gen. 
Johnston was in favour of withdrawing the armies from the two 
Mississippi fortresses into open field ; assuming the offensive at 
Tullahoma, a point far within the Confederacy ; and resting con- 
tent, after driving the invader from Yirginia, to halt on her bor- 
ders. It was Gen. Pemberton's misfortune to have to choose be- 
tween conflicting orders ; and yet, by failing to pursue either 
with decision, he not only lost both Yicksburg and its army, but 
lost them both too soon. 

After the fall of Yicksburg, the army of Gen. Grant was 
again before Jackson. Here Gen. Johnston had pasted himself 
in an attitude of defence, behind such imperfect intrenchments 
as had been improvised, where he was expecting an immediate 
attack, But the enemy began to intrench and plant batteries, 
at which deliberate work they spent three days. On the 12tli 
of July a sharp engagement occurred, and heavy cannonading, 
which was gallantly sustained by Johnston's army. By the 
13th, the enemy had extended his intrenched lines until both 
flanks reached Pearl river, and had nearly encircled the city ; 
he was, moreover, receiving ammunition for a heavy bombard- 
ment. On that night, therefore, Johnston evacuated the place, 
carrying off all his sick and wounded and all public property. 
Nothing of this did the enemy discover until the next day. 

Johnston withdrew slowly to Meridian, followed part of the 
way by the enemy, who soon after withdrew from interiour 
Mississippi, to reappear on another field, where Johnston was 
again to confront them. 



392 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON". 

A controversy of some sharpness ensued between the friends 
of the Richmond administration and those of Gen. Johnston in 
regard to the operations antecedent to Yicksburg, The question 
was nothing more, wlien stripped of partisan surplusage and per- 
sonal feeling, than a comparison of the policy recommended in 
Gen. Johnston's order of the 1st May, from Tullahoma, direct- 
ing Gen. Pemberton "to concentrate and fight Grant" on first 
crossing the Mississippi, with the order of Mr. Davis of May 7, 
from Richmond, advising Gen. Pemberton, in effect, to let Grant 
alone, and wait a siege in Vicksburg and Port Hudson. But 
whatever might have been the issues in controversy, the public 
soon found occasion to render a verdict between the disputants. 

The defeat of Gen. Bragg at Missionary Ridge, on the borders 
of North Georgia, occurred while Gen. Johnston was yet in 
Mississippi, which country was not then menaced by the enemy. 
Grant had superseded Rosecrans in Tennessee, and was soon after 
to be promoted to the general command of the Federal armies. 
The principal part of the army which had invested Yicksburg 
had been transferred to Missionary Ridge ; Tennessee, and the 
grazing districts bordering upon it, was the principal meat-pro- 
ducing region of the Confederacy. To occupy this State perma- 
nently was fatally to embarrass the Confederate commissariat ; 
and was, moreover, to obtain a stand-point from which a blow 
could be most readily dealt upon the vital parts of the South. 
A huge Federal army had appeared in front of Dalton, and im- 
mense preparations were making for a vigorous campaign against 
Atlanta. 

Gen. Bragg's defeat at Missionary Ridge, where he had suf- 
fered great loss, had occurred on the 25th November, and the 
inimical relations which had grown up between himself and his 
principal ofiicers, and the extreme disfavour into which he had 
fallen with the public, had rendered a change in the chief com- 
mand of the Army of Tennessee absolutely necessary. He had, 
therefore, been relieved at Dalton and transferred to Richmond, 
where he was placed near the Confederate President, in the ca- 
pacity, in short, of military secretary, adviser, and Aulic strat- 
egist. There was but one sentiment among the people of the 
West and Southwest as to the person who should succeed Gen. 
Bragg at Dalton, Gen. Johnston had secured, notwithstanding 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON". 393 

the embarrassments which he had encountered, the full confidence 
of the people ; and although the President himself, as well as 
Gen. Bragg, was inimical to him, it had become necessary that 
he should be assigned to the Army of Tennessee. He received 
orders on the 18th December, 1863, to that efiect, and assumed 
command at Dalton nine days afterwards. He found the army, 
while excellent in material, yet wretchedly demoralized by its 
recent defeat, and by its prolonged dissatisfaction with his pre- 
decessor in command. 

He immediately addressed himself to the task of creating an 
army from the fine material before him. At most, there were 
but three months which could be employed in this necessary 
work, and he devoted himself with energy and assiduity to the 
task. Of his success in this behalf, an intelligent writer, who 
visited Dalton in April, 1864, wrote : 

" Gen. Johnston is unquestionably a great captain in the sci- 
ence of war. In ninety days he has so transformed this army 
that I can find no word to express the extent of the transformation 
but the word regeneration. It is a regenerated army. He found 
it, ninety days ago, disheartened, despairing, and on the verge 
of dissolution. By judicious measures he has restored confidence, 
reestablished discipline, and exalted the heart of his army." 

In his ofiicial report of the campaign, written after its conclu- 
sion, referring to the condition of his army at the close of the 
retreat, Gen. Johnston wrote, with evident pride and satisfaction : 
"These troops, who had been for seventy -four days in the imme- 
diate presence of the enemy, labouring and fighting daily, endur- 
ing toil, exposure, and danger with equal cheerfulness, more con- 
fident and high-spirited than when the Federal army presented 
itself near Dalton, were then inferiour to none who ever served 
the Confederacy." 

The efi'ective strength of the Army of Tennessee when Gen. 
Johnston assumed command of it in December, was 36,826 in- 
fantry and artillery, and 5,613 cavalry. On May 1, it was 
40,900 infantry and artillery, and 4,000 cavalry. On his relin- 
quishing the command in July, it was 41,000 infantry and artil- 
lery, and 10,000 cavalry. During the intervening period, one 
brigade of infantry was added to and two taken away from the 
command. The losses by casualty during the campaign nearly 



394: GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

equalled the accretions which occurred from the return of ab- 
sentees to duty. His principal accessions of strength were of 
cavalry ; but this arm was always inferiour in strength to that of 
the opposing force ; too inferiour to allow of detachments in suf- 
ficient number for effective operations on the enemy's rear. 

The force opposed to him was the army which Grant had 
commanded at Missionary Ridge, estimated to be 80,000 strong, 
which was reinforced at different times by two corps, one divi- 
sion, and several thousand recruits — equal, in the aggregate, to 
30,000 men, and making a grand total of 110,000 men. At the 
outset of the campaign its strength was 98,Y97, including 15,000 
cavalry, and was in each arm more than double the strength of 
Johnston's army. 

"With this force of 45,000 against 98,000, Gen. Johnston was 
strongly urged from Richmond, by both Mr. Davis and Gen. 
Bragg, to inaugurate an offensive campaign. This he was suffi- 
ciently anxious to do, but he felt no less keenly the folly of 
attempting it without numbers adequate to success. With a 
disproportion of force, compared with that of the enemy, of less 
than one to two, he could only have assumed the offensive in the 
manner afterwards adopted by Gen. Hood ; tliat is to say, by 
avoiding the enemy's front, leaving the country open to his for- 
ward progress, and himself marching around to some indefinite 
point in his rear. In truth, he could only have assumed the 
offensive by resorting to a species of flight. 

His own view of the question was thus stated : " At Dalton, 
the great numerical superiority of the enemy made the chances 
of battle much against us, and even if beaten, they had a safe 
refuge behind the fortified pass of Ringgold and in the fortress 
of Chattanooga. Oar refuge, in case of defeat, was in Atlanta, 
one hundred miles off, with three rivers intervening. Therefore, 
victory for us could not have been decisive, while defeat would 
have been utterly disastrous. Between Dalton and the Chatta- 
hoochee we could have given battle only by attacking the enemy 
intrenched, or so near intrenchments that the only result of suc- 
cess to us would have been his falling back into them ; while 
defeat would have been our ruin." 

During the winter, while perfecting the organization and dis- 
cipline of his army, he withdrew the larger portion of it from 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 395 

Dalton, to Kome, in Georgia ; and in February, a corps of his 
army was sent to Mississippi to aid in the repulsion of Gen. Sher- 
man, who was making the experiment of a " movable column " 
midway through that State. The detached corps, however, after 
awhile returned, upon the retirement of the column that had 
drawn it, to their quarters. So that, at no time, was the relative 
strength of Johnston, compared with that of the enemy, materi- 
ally greater than it had been at the beginning ; and he was, 
therefore, never in strength to justify an assumption of the offen- 
sive. To have done so, would have been to discard all the ideas 
of rational generalship, and to gamble in the lotteries of war. 

In the first days of May, 1864, the enemy, by concerted arrange- 
ments for the East and the West, began to move simultaneously 
on Richmond and Atlanta, Gen. Grant having gone to Yirginia, 
and Gen. Sherman having assumed command of the assemblage 
of Federal " armies " that had been consolidated before Dalton. 
By the 5th, Gen. Sherman had begun to push forward with 
vigour. His plan of campaign was the avoidance of pitched 
battles, and the substitution of flank movements, intrenching 
always in these, whether necessary for defense, or for driving his 
adversary back. In a topography distinguished by bold ranges 
of mountains, parallel with the line of march, this system of 
operations was more practicable than it would have been found 
to be in a country of open campaign, as the assailing detach- 
ments of the retreating army were thus required to venture upon 
more circuitous and more hazardous detours for the purpose of 
assault. The sort of fighting which resulted from such strategy 
was incessant skirmishing, interspersed with spirited actions 
between detachments, seldom rising into a general engagement. 

Gen Johnston had, of course, no choice but to conduct a wary 
retreat, and to inflict a succession of skilful blows upon the col- 
umns of his adversary when incautiously exposed or whilst un- 
protected by intrenchments. The calculation in which he in- 
dulged has been expressed by himself: 

"In the course pursued, our troops always fighting under 
cover, had very trifling losses, compared with those they inflicted ; 
so that the enemy's numerical superiority was reduced daily and 
rapidly, and we could reasonably have expected to cope with 
the Federal army on equal ground by the time the Chattahoochee 



396 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

was passed. Defeat on this side of the river would have been 
its destruction. "We, if beaten, had a place of refuge in Atlanta, 
too strong to be assaulted, and too extensive to be invested." 

His retreat was along the line of the railroad leading from 
Dalton to Atlanta, a distance of just 100 miles, which crosses 
three considerable rivers, running at nearly equal intervals apart ; 
namely, the Oostanaula, the Etowah, and the Chattahoochee. 
Calhoun, Adairsville, and Cassville are between the Oostanaula 
and Etowah ; Kew Hope Church, Altoona, Dallas, and the Ken- 
asaw and Lost Mountains are between the Etowah and Chatta- 
hoochee. Atlanta is behind the Chattahoochee, at a distance of 
about fourteen miles, and south of Peach Tree Creek. 

The campaign, though one of the most spirited that has ever 
been recorded in the annals of scientific warfare, was marked by 
very few general engagements. The first occasion on which such 
an one might have happened is thus described by Gen. Johnston ; 
and the details of this affair, as well as of one or two others, will 
be given, chiefly in order to introduce the reader to an acquaint- 
ance with the more distinguished of the characters who served 
under Gen. Johnston. It occurred on the 19th and 20th May, 
near Cassville, which is half-way between Dalton and Atlanta. 
Gen. Johnston writes of it officially : 

" "When half the Federal army was near Kingston, the two 
corps at Cassville were ordered to advance against the troops 
that had followed them from Adairsville, Hood leading on the 
right. "When this corps had advanced some two miles, one of 
his staff-officers reported to Lieut.-Gen. Hood that the enemy 
was approaching on the Canton road, in rear of the right of our 
original position. He drew back his troops and formed them 
across that road. When it was discovered that the officer was 
mistaken, the opportunity had passed by, by the near approach 
of the Federal army. Expecting to be attacked, I drew up the 
troops in what seemed to me an excellent position — a bold ridge 
immediately in rear of Cassville, with an open valley before it. 
The fire of the enemy's artillery commenced soon after the troops 
were formed, and continued until night. Soon after dark, Lieut.- 
Gens. Polk and Hood, together, expressed to me decidedly the 
opinion formed upon the observation of the afternoon, that the 
Federal artillery would render their positions untenable the next 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON". 897 

day, and urged me to abandon the ground immediately and cross 
the Etowah. Lieut.-Gen. Hardee, whose position I thought 
weakest, was confident that he could hold it. The other two offi- 
cers, however, were so earnest and unwilling to depend on the 
ability of their corps to defend the ground, that I yielded, and 
the army crossed the Etowah on the 20th, a step which I have 
regretted ever since." 

An obstinate engagement was fought in open field near the 
Kew Hope Church, which ran through the 25th and three suc- 
ceeding days of May. Gen. Johnston thus speaks of it : 

"An hour before sunset Stewart's division, at New Hope Church, 
was fiercely attacked by Hooker's corps, which it repulsed after 
a hot engagement of two hours. Skirmishing was kept up on 
the 26th and 27th. At half-past five, p.m., on the 27th, How- 
ard's corps assailed Cleburne's division, and was driven back 
about dark with great slaughter. In these two actions our troops 
were not intrenched. Our loss in each was about 450 in killed 
and wounded. On the 27th the enemy's dead, except those 
borne ofi", were counted 600. "We, therefore, estimated their 
loss at 3,000 at least. It was probably greater on the 25th, 
as we had a larger force engaged then, both of artillery and in- 
fantry, 

" The usual skirmishing was kept up on the 28th. Lieut.- 
Gen. Hood was instructed to put his corps in position during the 
night to attack the enemy's left flank at dawn the next morning, 
the rest of the army to join in the action successively from right 
to left. 

"On the 29th Lieut.-Gen. Hood, finding the Federal left 
covered by a division which had intrenched itself in the night, 
thought it inexpedient to attack, so reported, and asked for in- 
structions. As the resulting delay made the attack inexpedient, 
even if it had not been so before, by preventing the surprise — 
upon which success, in a great degree, depended — he was recalled." 

But the most severely contested engagement occurred on the 
27th June, Gen. Johnston's army being posted on Kenasaw and 
Lost Mountains, a few miles north-west of the Chattahoochee. 
He thus describes the hottest part of the fight : 

" On the 27th, after a furious cannonade of several hours, the 
enemy made a general advance, but was everywhere repulsed 



« 



898 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

with heavy loss. The assaults were most vigorous on Cheatham's 
and Cleburne' s divisions, of Hardee's corps, and French's and 
Featherstone's, of Loring's. Lieut.-Gen. Hardee reports that 
Cheatham's division lost in killed, wounded, and missing, 195. 
The enemy opposed to it, by the statement of a staff-officer sub- 
sequently captured, 2,000 ; the loss of Cleburne's division eleven, 
that of the enemy on his front, 1,000 ; and Maj.-Gen. Loring re- 
ported 236 of his corps killed, wounded, and missing ; and the 
loss of the enemy, by their own estimates, at between 2,500 and 
3,000, which he thinks very small." 

General Sherman admitted that this assault was a failure. 
But this General continued to advance by means of intrench- 
ments, until Johnston, on the night of the 9th July, crossed the 
Chattahoochee River, and began to prepare for the final battles by 
which he had, from the beginning of his retreat, intended to save 
Atlanta. The main body of the enemy crossed on the 17th. Sher- 
man's progress had been at the rate of eighty-six miles in seven- 
ty-three days, or rather more than a mile a day. The retreat had 
been the masterpiece of Johnston's life, and one of the most skilful 
and successful that had ever been executed. He had brought 
along everything ; every gun, every wagon, every camp-kettle. 
The enemy's losses, if the reports of the Northern press were accu- 
rate, had been about 45,000 men ; his own, less than 11,000. 
He devoted an active and laborious week to the defences of At- 
lanta. Seven of the heaviest rifled cannon had been obtained 
from Mobile, and through personal solicitations addressed by 
him to Gen. Maury, were now planted on its ramparts. An 
immense number of negroes were employed in its earthworks. 
He was doing the business thoroughly, after his usual manner, as 
he in a few days communicated it to Gen. Hood. His plan was 
— first to attack the Federal army while crossing Peach Tree 
Creek. If successful, great results might be hoped for, as the 
enemy would have both the creek and the river to intercept 
his retreat. Second, if unsuccessful, to keep back the enemy 
by intrenching, to give time for the assembling of the State 
troops promised by Governor Brown ; to garrison Atlanta 
with those troops, and when the Federal army approached the 
town attack it on the most exposed flank with all the Conted- 
erate troops. 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 899 

On the 17th, while engaged in giving instructions to his chief 
engineer concerning the fortifications of Atlanta, he was handed 
the following dispatch : 

Richmond, Va., July I'Z, 1864 
To Gen. J. E. Johnston : 

Lieut. -Gen. J. B. Hood has been commissioned to the tem- 
porary rank of General, under the late law of Congress. I am 
directed by the Secretary of "War to inform you, that as you have 
failed to arrest the advance of the enemy to the vicinity of 
Atlanta, fur in the interiour of Georgia, and express no confidence 
that you can defeat or repel him, you are hereby relieved from 
the command of the Army and Department of Tennessee, which 
you will immediately turn over to Gen. Hood. 

S. Cooper, A. and I. Gen. 

The order arrested Gen. Johnston in a work which was en- 
listing all the energies of his nature. He was preparing to 
consummate, at the time and place designed, a purpose which 
had been the end and aim of two months of toil and strategy. 
The surprise, therefore, was severe, and the disappointment 
extreme. But these were due to the pride he took in his profes- 
sion, and the solicitude he felt for his country. Aside from the 
professional disappointment, the extraordinary document gave him 
more grief for the South than for himself. The service had for 
some time been rendered as distasteful as the displeasure of his 
superiours could make it, and to be "relieved" from it was relief 
indeed. But, for the Confederacy, it filled him with forebodings, 
because, possessing as he did the afi'ectionate devotion of his 
troops, and the unbounded confidence of his ofiicers (with but one 
exception, if indeed that was an exception), the measure was 
taken at an untimely moment and critical place. He knew what 
was expected of his successor, and he knew that the expectation 
involved destruction, both to that ill-starred army and to the 
Confederacy. The measure did indeed prove to be " the begin- 
ning of the end." Then began the final and general ruin. It 
was like tlie opening of the fourth seal, and the appearance of 
the pale horse in the Apocalypse — " all hell followed.''^ 

He immediately called for Gen. Hood, and communicated to 
liim the plans he had been pursuing. The information of his 



400 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

removal was cautioiislj communicated to tlie Generals of the 
higher grade. They promptly united in a request to the Gov- 
ernment for a revocation of the order. But Gen. Johnston took 
leave of them at once ; and veteran commanders, who had never 
blanched before the enemy, now gave way to emotions which do 
honour at times even to warriors. It was thought best to withhold 
the announcement of the intelligence from the army until Gen. 
Johnston had left its vicinity. 

On the next day Gen. Johnston sent the following dispatch 
to Richmond, which closed his service in the field, until public 
opinion and the voice of Congress demanded his restoration 
again to command, when he was once more to appear, but at a 
time when he could only bear a part in the formalities of the 
final dissolution. The dispatch was as follows : 

Near Atlanta, July 18, 1864. 

Gen. S. Coojper : 

Tour dispatch of yesterday received and obeyed. Com- 
mand of the Army and Department of Tennessee has been trans- 
ferred to Gen. Hood. As to the alleged cause of my removal, 
I assert that Sherman's army is much stronger, compared with 
that of Tennessee, than Grant's, compared with that of Northern 
"Virginia. Yet the enemy has been compelled to advance more 
slowly to the vicinity of Atlanta than to that of Richmond and 
Petersburg, and has penetrated much deeper into Yirginia than 
into Georgia. Confident language by a military commander is 
not usually regarded as evidence of competency. 

J. E. Johnston. 

Besides the cause assigned for his removal in the official tele- 
gram of Gen. Cooper, it was alleged in the Government news- 
papers in Richmond that Gen. Johnston had disregarded the 
instructions and wishes of President Davis. But there had been 
no instructions except those for assuming the offensive, given while 
at Dalton in the preceding winter, and these it had been impracti- 
cable at any time to execute. Other than those, there had been 
no expression of the President's wishes, except just before the 
army had reached the Chattahoochee, which was a warning to 
Johnston against fighting with a river at his back, as well as 
against crossing it. 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 401 

It was also semi-officially charged that he had intended giv- 
ing up Atlanta — a charge which the vigorous measures he was en- 
gaged in for strengthening the place, and the fact that his own 
family and effects were there under permanent arrangements, 
disproved. 

As to the reason which had been officially alleged, it was 
palpably insufficient, as coming from the government at Rich- 
mond, near which Gen. Lee had, in a manner equally nuisterly, 
executed a defensive movement under the same neces5it3^ On 
this subject, Gen, Johnston wrote unofficially, a few weeks 
later : — " After his experience in the Wilderness, Gen. Lee 
adopted as thorough a defensive as mine, and added by it to 
his great fame. The only other difference between our opera- 
tions, was due to Gen, Grant's bull-headedness and Sherman's 
extreme caution, which carried the armies in Virginia to Pe- 
tersburg in less than half the time in which Sherman reached 
Atlanta. From our relative losses, I might have expected to be 
very soon stronger than Sherman. His army beaten on the 
east of the Chattahoochee, might have been destroyed," The 
same government which made this objection had virtually pro- 
moted Gen. Bragg, who had retreated from central Kentucky 
into North Georgia, with a force far less disproportioned to that 
of his adversary than Gen. Johnston's. 

The effect of the intelligence of Johnston's removal was as 
depressing upon the Confederate army before Atlanta as it was 
exhilarating upon that of the enemy. Sherman, no longer ob- 
serving the " extreme caution " which had been the highest 
proof he could have given of his appreciation of Johnston's abili- 
ty, now became bold and audacious. And, verily, the Furies 
were at that time let loose upon Georgia and the ill-fated Caro- 
linas. 

26 



402 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 



CHAPTER XXXY. 

The fall of Atlanta and what it involved. — Gen. Johnston foretells Sherman's 
"march to the sea." — The Tee Viciis. — Gen. Johnston restored to command. — 
The North CaroUha campaign. — Sherman's stipulations for a surrender. — Inter- 
ference from "Washington. — QuaUties of Gen. Johnston as a great commander. — 
His military peculiarities. — Compared to George "Washington. — His patriotic and 
noble sUence nnder censure. — His person and deportment. — Literary accom- 
plishments. — His advice to the Southern people on their duties after the surrender. 

The fall of Atlanta through the unskilful action of Gen. 
Hood "was one of the worst calamities of the war. How so in- 
valuable a prize was lost on the part of the Confederacy, hac 
been ineffaceably stereotyped on the pages of history. A Gene- 
ral of great activity had advanced upon the place, by observing 
an unwearied caution coupled with sleepless diligence, and 
moving with a force doubly stronger than that defending it. 
With equal skill and caution, and with a success in retreat un- 
surpassed in history, he had been resisted. But a controlling 
power at a distance, in an evil moment, ordered the abandon- 
ment, by the weaker army, of the wary, skilful, and safe policy of 
defence, for the assumption of an audacious and reckless series 
of aggressive measures. 

The dispirited army of Hood lay, after the fall of Atlanta, for a 
month on the road to Macon. Yisited there by President Davis, 
towards the end of September, preparations soon after began to be 
made for some permanent movement. By the last day of the month, 
this new strategy had become developed. Hood crossed the Chat- 
tahoochee, and was marching on the line of Sherman's communi- 
cations. Sherman followed until the 5th of October, for enough 
to signal the garrison at AUatoona to hold out against the ap- 
proaching danger. On the 6th of October, Gen. Johnston, living 
privately at Macon, and not having heard what Sherman was 
doing, wrote unofficially to Richmond: "It is said that our 
army is on Sherman's route to Chattanooga. This movement 
has uncovered the route through Macon, by which the army of 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 403 

Virginia is supplied, and the shops at which ammunition is pre- 
pared and arms are repaired for the Array of Tennessee. If 
Sherman understands that either Charleston, Savannah, Pensa- 
cola or Mobile is as good a point for him as Chattanooga, he 
will not regard Hood's movement." 

Gen. Hood and his erratic offensive soon came to grief. His 
army, after severe defeats in Tennessee, soon ceased to be, as an 
army, among the things of earth. Gen. Sherman, instead of restor- 
ing, destroyed his communications with Chattanooga, and returned 
to Atlanta. The country was open to him "from the centre all 
round to the sea." He could march forth at his pleasure. Hav- 
ing concentrated his troops at Atlanta, he was ready, by the 15th 
November, to set forward, in whatever direction he pleased. One 
week before, on tlie 8th of the month, Gen. Johnston, about to 
leave Macon, wrote thence unofficially to Richmond : " I could 
not tell the public what I would have done if left in command. 
I do not liesitate to tell you, though, that if I had been left in 
command of that army, it is very unlikely that Atlanta would 
have been abandoned. At all events, ten or twelve thousand 
soldiers, whose lives have been thrown away, would have been 
saved. Nor would I have left Sherman, with a force about equal 
to my own, in the heart of Georgia, to make such an excursion 
as our army is now engaged in. If Sherman understands his 
game, he can now cut off Gen. Lee's supplies, which pass through 
this place, and break up all our establishments for the repair of 
arms and preparation of ammunition ; and this without risk, 
without the chance of being compelled to fight — a necessity 
which he can avoid by marching to Charleston, Savannah, Pen- 
sacola, or Mobile. At this season the country can furnish his 
army an abundance of food and forage. Sherman, in his extreme 
caution, may not venture upon such a course. Should he do so, 
he will win. 

" His army has been greatly reduced since his occupation of 
Atlanta. It was formed in 1861 for three years. The terms of 
most of the regiments have expired, and a very large number 
refused to reenlist. I expected them to be discharged during 
the summer, as their times expired. Sherman, however, made 
an arrangement with them for their service until the capture of 
Atlanta." 



404 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON, 

But Shennairs "extreme caution" ]iad been thrown off with 
the removal of Jolmston ; and he now resolved on turning his 
face to the seaboard. What inducements he offered to secure 
the reenlistment of his men, may be inferred from the license 
which they indulged in the long marches of the months that 
followed. Hood had re-created Sherman's army by exposing 
the private wealth of three States, as the tempting bootj^ for re- 
enlistment. Then came the vce victis / for it had been made a 
matter of contract. 

By the middle of the succeeding February, Mr. Seddon had 
left the War Department at Richmond ;'Gen. Breckinridge had 
taken his place ; Gen. Lee had been made General-in-chief of all 
the Confederate forces ; Sherman had subdued Georgia and South 
Carolina, and sacked and burned Columbia; Gen. Beauregard, 
commanding in those States, had failed, from inadequacy of 
troops, to check the formidable invasion ; Gen. Bragg, falling 
into hopeless unpopularity at Richmond, had been assigned to 
the Department of North Carolina, and had been in charge at 
Wilmington when that city fell under the operations of Commo- 
dore Porter and Gen. Terry, successfully directed against Fort 
Fisher. 

And now, yielding to the boldly-pronounced wishes of Con- 
gress, and the universal demands of the people, no less than to 
the dictates of his own spontaneous judgment, Gen. Lee called 
Gen. Johnston forth from retirement, and placed him in com- 
mand of all the troops that could be collected from the two 
Carolinas to the Mississippi. Gen. Johnston immediately took 
measures for concentrating the detached forces wdiich had been 
at Charleston under Hardee, in the vicinity of Charlotte with 
Beauregard, in Wilmington under Bragg, and in other quarters 
under whatever commanders ; and moving them in the direction 
of Fayetteville, North Carolina. On the other hand, the enemy 
were endeavouring to concentrate in the same quarter, by the 
union of Sherman from Columbia, Terry from Wilmington, and 
Schofield, who was approaching from Newbern, through Golds- 
boro. By the 18th March, Johnston had so far succeeded as to 
get together a body of fourteen thousand troops, at Benton ville, 
North Carolina, and to plant himself in the path of Sherman, 
who was marching from Fayetteville north-eastward towards 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTOX. 405 

Goldsboro. Here he was attacked by two corps of the advanc- 
ing army, 40,000 strong. Hoping only to cripple the assail- 
ing column, he fought from three o'clock in the afternoon 
until dark, and drew off in the night, after burying his dead, 
carrying away his own wounded, and some of the enemy's. Two 
days afterwards, the converging columns of the Federal army 
had combined, and assumed a vigorous offensive against John- 
ston. There was severe fighting until the 22d, Johnston with- 
drawing all the while slowly towards Smithfield, in the direction 
of Raleigh and Hillsboro. Sherman then left his point and 
concentrated his army, nearly 100,000 strong, near Goldsboro. 
There he left it to pay a brief visit to Gen. Grant at City 
Point. Gen. Johnston addressed himself to the task of recruit- 
ing and organizing his army, which, when near Raleigh, on the 
1st April, numbered 18,578 in the total present for duty, of which 
14,179 were effective. Many were without arms. 

By the 13th April Sherman, having returned from City Point, 
approached within fourteen miles of Raleigh with his army. On 
the next day he occupied that city, Johnston retiring towards 
Hillsboro. Having received news of Gen. Lee's surrender at 
Appomattox, which had occurred six days before, Gen. Johnston 
addressed a communication to Gen. Sherman on the 15th April, 
asking for a conference looking to a cessation of hostilities. On 
the 18th, the two Generals met at a farmhouse near Chapel Hill 
University, and agreed upon a convention. The object avowed 
by Johnston was, " to spare the blood of his gallant little army, 
to prevent further suffering of the people by the devastation and 
ruin inevitable from the marches of invading armies, and to 
avoid the crime of waging a hopeless war." 

The stipulations which he secured were in the highest degree 
favourable to his army and country ; so favourable that they 
were promptly rejected by the Washington Government when 
the terms were made known to it by Gen. Sherman. The two 
armies were to remain in statu quo until notice of forty-eight 
hours should be given by either General to the other. This 
state of things to remain while the following proceedings should 
be had, if not objected to by either of their governments : 

1. The Confederate armies to be disbanded, each officer and 
man engaging to abide the action of their State governments and 



40G GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON". 

the Federal Government ; their arms and munitions to be left at 
the State capitals, and reported to Washington. 2. The existing 
State governments to be recognized, upon their officers taking 
the oath of fidelity to the United States. 3. The Federal courts 
to be reestablished in the South, with all their original powers. 
4. The people of the States to be guarantied their political rights 
and franchises, with rights of person and property. 5. The Fed- 
eral Government not to disturb the people of tlie States for past 
acts of war, so long as they should remain in peace and quiet, and 
obey existing laws. 6. The war, in general, to cease ; a general 
amnesty to be proclaimed by the Federal executive, on condition 
of a disbandment and deposit of arms by the Confederate troops, 
and their return to peaceful pursuits. 

These terms were rejected at Washington, and Gen. Grant 
was sent to North Carolina, where the same terms were proflered 
to Gen. Johnston that had been accorded to Gen. Lee ; and these 
he of course accepted. Here ceased the public life of this veteran 
soldier and master of war. We have so far let his acts portray 
his character, and have indulged in very few and brief commeu- 
taries upon them. 

It has been well said that the great captain is the man who 
thoroughly understands his position, and the temper and charac- 
ter of his own troops ; who clearly perceives the qualities of the 
enemy, and capacity of the commander opposed to him ; who 
knows how to husband his own resources, and to destroy those 
of his enemy; who accurately judges when to fight and when to 
retreat ; who is capable of discriminating between what is essen- 
tial to insure eventual success, and what is of only factitious 
importance ; and who has the moral courage to forego a tempo- 
rary blow, bringing only an evanescent advantage, for an ulti- 
mate, substantial, and permanent success. 

In this sense, Gen. Johnston was a great commander. He 
cared nothing for positions whenever they had lost their value as 
places of safety and security for armies. When they became 
dangerous depositories of troops he could no longer tolerate the 
idea of holding them. When urged to hold Harper's Ferry 
rather than excite popular clamour by choosing a better position, 
he braved the outcry, to place his army on vantage-ground. He 
withdrew from Torktown, much to the chagrin of the populace, 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 407 

but far Inore to the regret and disappointment of Gen. McClellan. 
When the question arose between saving the position at Yicks- 
burg and hazarding its great garrison, he ordered that the army 
should be saved. During the campaign before Atlanta, there 
was a popular desire, and an official clamour, for an advance ; but 
the question again occurring between throwing away his army, 
and yielding a district of country, he again made the preserva- 
tion of the former his cardinal thought. He has been accused of 
obstinacy ; but this is a virtue of priceless value, when it sets 
out in the way of what is wise and right ; it becomes a shocking 
fault and crime when it takes the direction of mistake and folly. 
It was characteristic of Johnston clearly to perceive what was 
proper to be done, and he did not know how to play courtier 
either to people or President. Against popular clamour, against 
executive favour, against all the considerations which ordinarily 
swerve men into concessions of principle to the ends of policy, 
he persistently, obstinately, nay, often indignantly, stood to his 
own just, wise, sterling, deep-rooted convictions. It is difficult 
to determine whether he possessed more of the qualities of Fabius, 
Marlborough, "Washington, or Greene. 

A recent popular writer has pointed out a strong military 
likeness between Joseph E. Johnston and George Washington. 
Each was remarkable, in the conduct of war, for the little value 
attached to militarj positions in comparison with the forces that 
defended them, and in this respect each showed the appreciation, 
of a great commander. Each regarded masses and general 
results rather than isolated bodies and mere temporary effects, 
and in this breadth of view achieved the greatest success of their 
arms. For the great General sees but little advantage in picking 
off detached forces of the enemy, or in precipitating small bodies 
of men against each other, but rather seeks to husband his forces 
until the auspicious moment of attack arrives. When that 
moment did arrive Johnston had a supreme activity. He was a 
more vigorous fighter than Washington. Having attained cer- 
tain positions, and accomplished certain results, he pressed 
forward against the vital point with a vigour and resolution that 
carried everything before them ; and when his blood was up, 
he fought with matchless rapidity, and struck right and left with 
the blows of a giant. 



408 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

There is a yet more remarkable parallel between Johnston 
and "Washington in the perfect and sublime silence of each under 
the misrepresentations of the populace and the intrigues of par- 
tisans. It fell to the lot of each of these patriots to be misunder- 
stood and accused in their times; to be most unjustly criticised, 
when explanations might have readily relieved them, but such 
explanations involved injurious disclosures to the enemy, and were 
inconsistent with the good of the public service. Silence in such 
circumstances is the most difficult and highest magnanimity. In 
1776, when the public was violently misjudging Gen. Washing- 
ton, and friends appeared to be falling from his side, Governor 
Livingston, of New Jersey, wrote to the noble and distressed 
commander : " I can easily form some idea of the difficulties 
under which you labour, particularly of one for which the public 
can make no allowance, because your prudence and fidelity to 
the cause will not suffer you to reveal it to the public — an in- 
stance of magnanimity superiour, perhaps, to any that can be 
shown in battle." So Gen. Johnston endured in silence misrep- 
resentation and calumny that a few words spoken for self might 
have dispersed. He practised throughout the war a supreme 
reticence for the public good. When he was almost cruelly 
removed at Atlanta, after a campaign that the afterthought of 
his countr^'-men now pronounces the most successful of his mili- 
tary life, he uttered not a word of public complaint. He made 
no unmanly appeals for sympathy to the soldiers who idolized 
him, nor to the friends who reposed the most implicit confidence 
in him. Thinking not of self, but of the salvation of his country, 
he called for his successor, who had been his own subordinate, 
explained fully to him the condition of things, the relative posi- 
tions of the two armies, their strength, etc., and then unfolded to 
him what had been his own plans and intentions. Every effort 
was made to enable his successor to win those laurels which had 
been denied to him. 

Not a few military critics have considered Johnston superiour 
to Lee in the highest qualities of generalship ; and perhaps the 
best judgment of the enemy has designated his as the master 
military mind of the Confederacy.* He may have lacked Lee's 

* A Northern historiographer of the war — Shanks— more candid than his class, 



GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 409 

rotundity of character, its even development of qualities, but lie 
had a wider vision, and perhaps a better military instinct or sa- 
gacity. Everything about him ; his bearing, style of dress, and 
even his most careless attitudes, betokened the high-toned and 
spirited soldier who loves his profession. His person and deport- 
ment were severely military, and it was common for the soldiers 
to compare him to the game-cock, trimmed and spurred for the 
fight. His erect carriage, his florid complexion, his neatly-trim- 
med gray hair and closely-cut beard, divided into side-whiskers, 
moustache, and goatee, gave him a precise and vigorous appear- 
ance. He had a thorough knowledge of all arms, a bold and 
fertile conception, and a constitution of body which enabled him 
to bear up against fatigues which would have prostrated the 
strength of other men. In general intellect and scholarly accom- 
plishments he was undoubtedly the superiour of the five Generals 
in the Confederate army. In his reports is to be found some of 
the most vigorous English in the literature of the South. He 
wrote " impcratoria 'bremtateP * His language was remarkably 
precise, and sometimes attained a degree of eloquence which 
showed that, in the turmoil of the camp, he was not unmindful 
of the graces of literature. 

thus discourses of Johnston's Atlanta campaign and the qualities of the com- 
mander : 

"A more laborious campaign than that of Atlanta was never undertaken, and it 
is difficult to say which soldier deserves the most credit for the movement — Sherman 
or Joe Johnston. The retreats of the latter were not less admirable than the flank 
marches of the former. Johnston showed as clean heels, as Sherman did a fully- 
guarded front. His camps were left barren ; Sherman found only smoking camp-fires, 
but no spoils were left behind him. It was looked upon by the officers of Sherman's 
army as the ' cleanest retreat of the war ; ' and it is very evident now that had John- 
ston remained in command, and been allowed to continue his Fabian policy, Sherman 
could never have made his march to the sea, and the capture of Atlanta would have 
been a Cadmean victory to him. Johnston proved himself a very superiour soldier — 
In fact, the superiour General of the Southern armies. If it could be said of any of 
the rebels, it could bo said of Johnston, that, in fact, he was 

'"The noblest Roman of them all: 
All the conspirators, save only he, 
Did what they did in envy of great Caesar. 
He only, in a generous, honest thought, 
And common good to all, made one of them.' " 

* A remark of Tacitus on Piso's address to his troops. 



410 GENERAL JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON. 

It is remarkable that iu proportion as the military men of the 
Confederacy were active and brilliant fighters in the war, they 
have given pacific and conservative counsels since its close. 
Those soldiers and officers who did most to uphold the Southern 
cause in arms, appear to be foremost to recommend prompt and 
cheerful acquiescence in the results of the issues which were de- 
cided on the field of battle. Thus Gen. Johnston, who, as many 
of his countrymen believe, will, when the whole history of the 
war comes to be fairly studied and written, prove to have been 
the ablest Confederate commander, writes, the date being August 
17, 1865 : " We of the South referred the question at issue be- 
tween us and the United States to the arbitrament of the sword. 
The decision has been made, and it is against us. We must ac- 
quiesce in that decision, accept it as final, and recognize the fact 
that Virginia is again one of the United States. Our duties and 
our interests coincide. We shall consult the one and perform the 
other by doing all we can to promote the welfare of our neigh- 
bours and to restore prosperity to the country. We should at 
once commence the duties of peaceful citizens by entering upon 
some useful pursuit, qualifying ourselves to vote, if possible ; and 
at the polls our votes should be cast for conservative men — men 
who understand and will maintain the interests of Virginia as 
one of the United States. This is the course which I have re- 
commended to all those with whom I have conversed on the sub- 
ject, and that which I have adopted for myself as far as practi- 
cable." 



LIEUT.-GEN. JAMES LONGSTREET. 



CHAPTER XXXYI. 



His early military services. — Affair of Blackburn's Ford. — Battle of "Williamsburg. — 
Gallantry at Gaines' Mills.— Incident of march to Second Manassas. — Separate 
command in South Virginia. — Desperate fighting at Gettysburg. — Sobriquet of 
" The Bull-dog." — Decisive part in the battle of Chickamauga. — Quarrel with Gen. 
Bragg. — Campaign in East Tennessee. — Its errours. — A sharp correspondence 
with the Federal General Foster. — Gen. Longstreet rebuked by President Davis. 
— He is wounded in the "VTUderness. — Mihtary character and aptitude of the 
man. — Fraternal relations with Gen. Lee. — His personal appearance. 

Gen. Longstreet was born in South Carolina, in 1820, and 
entered the Military Academy at West Point in 1838, and grad 
uated in 1842. He was brevetted second-lieutenant of the 
Fourth Regiment of Infantry, and in March, 1845, he was trans- 
ferred to the Eighth Regiment. He served with distinction in 
the Mexican war. After the battles of Contreras and Churubus- 
co, he was brevetted captain, " for gallant and meritorious con- 
duct," and was, three weeks after, brevetted major for "gallan- 
try " at the battle of El Molino del Rey. He displayed great 
courage at the assault of Chapultepec, and was named in Gen. 
Scott's official report among those who had distinguished them- 
selves on this brilliant and perilous occasion. 

At the beginning of the war between the sundered sections 
of the Union, he was paymaster in the United States Army, with 
the rank of major; but he resigned his commission and was at 
once appointed Brigadier-General in the Confederate army. He 
made an early appearance in the history of the war ; the first 
conspicuous action of his command being in the afiair of Bull 
Run, which preceded the general battle of Manassas, and took 



412 LIEUT.-GEN. JAMES LONGSTREET. 

place on the IStli Julj, 1861, when Tyler, of the Federal army, 
attempted to force a passage of the stream. Here with only 
twelve hundred bayonets, afterwards reinforced by two regi- 
ments and some artillery, Longstreet held the enemy in check, 
until the engagement degenerated into one of artillery, in which 
there were but few casualties on either side. In his official re- 
port of the day Gen. Beauregard wrote : " Brig.-Gen. Longstreet, 
who commanded immediately the troops engaged at Blackburn's 
Ford on the 18th, equalled my confident expectations, and I may 
fitly say, that by his presence in the right place, at the right 
moment, among his men, by the exhibition of characteristic 
coolness, and by his w^ords of encouragement to the men of his 
command, he infused a confidence and spirit that contributed 
largely to the success of our arms on that day." 

In the subsequent battle of Manassas, Longstreet's brigade 
■was not actively engaged, but remained making a demonstra- 
tion at Blackburn's Ford to engross the enemy's reserves and 
forces. The plan of battle prepared by the Commanding General 
had contemplated a movement on the enemy's rear and front at 
Centreville, which would have engaged Longstreet ; but the 
orders to this effect miscarried, and the battle was fought on the 
Confederate side, fortuitously, and as circumstances developed it. 

In the Peninsular campaign Longstreet, who had been pro- 
moted Major-Geueral, was intrusted with defending the rear of 
Johnston's army as it retreated towards Richmond. He fought 
the battle of "Williamsburg, in which he not only secured John- 
ston's retreat, but won a brilliant victory. But little account 
was ever made in Southern newspapers of this victory, and yet 
it had some brilliant points. Longstreet engaged nine brigades 
of the Federal army, conquered two miles of ground, captured 
nine pieces of artillery, inflicted a loss upon the enemy in killed, 
wounded, and prisoners, which McClellan himself officially 
counted as more than two thousand, and moved ofif the next day 
leaving the greater portion of Heintzelman's corps stunned be- 
hind him, and such a lesson to McClellan as to cause him to 
abandon the pursuit. 

In the battles around Richmond, Longstreet fought brilliant- 
ly and effectively at Gaines' Mills and at Frazier's Farm. At the 
former place, commanded by Gen. Lee to make a diversion in fa- 



LIEUT.-GEN. JAMES LONGSTREET. 413 

YOiiv of attacking columns on other parts of the field, he took the 
responsibility of changing the feint into an attack nnder disad- 
vantages of position which he thus describes: — "In front of me, 
the enemy occupied the wooded slope of Turkey Hill, the crest of 
which is fifty or sixty feet higher than the plain over which my 
troops must pass to make an attack. The plain is about a quar- 
ter of a mile wide ; the further side of it was occupied by sharp- 
shooters. Above these, and on the slope of the hill, was a line 
of infantry behind trees, felled so as to form a good breastwork. 
The crest of the hill, some forty feet above the last line, was 
strengthened by rifle trenches, and occupied by infantry and 
artillery. In addition to this, the plain was enfiladed by bat- 
teries on the other side of the Chickahominy. I loas, in fact, 
in the position from which the enemy wished us to attach himP 
The attack was successful ; and as Jackson came upon the 
ground about the same time, one of his divisions coming in on 
the left of Longstreet, it occupied the entire field, and drove the 
enemy in irretrievable rout. "jSTo battle-field," wrote Gen. 
Longstreet, " could boast of more gallantry and devotion." 

In the campaign of Northern Yirginia Longstreet had a con- 
spicuous part, and his march through Thoroughfare Gap to unite 
with Jackson on the plains of Manassas, was the critical event 
of that field, where Pope was overthrown, and the State of Yir- 
ginia cleared of invading armies. 

Of this march an incident is related indicative of the state 
of war. While Longstreet was hurrying forward to Jackson's 
relief, several brigades in advance, on diiferent roads, were ob- 
served to halt, thereby stopping all further progress of the corps. 
Yery angry at this, Longstreet trotted to the front, and was in- 
formed that a courier had brought orders from Gen. Lee to that 
efiect ! " From Gen. Lee ? " said he, his eyes glowing with rage. 
" Where is that courier? " he asked. " There he goes now, Gen- 
eral, galloping down the road." " Keep your ejes on him, over- 
take him, and bring him here." This was soon accomplished. 
" By whose orders did you halt my brigade ? "asked the Brigadier 
in advance. " As I have already told you, by Gen. Lee's ! I 
have orders for Longstreet, and must be off to the rear ! " " Here 
is Longstreet," said that General, moving forward. " Where are 
your orders ? " The spy was caught ! He stammered, turned 



414 LIEUT.-GEN. JAMES LONGSTREET. 

pale, and his quivering lip condemned him. " Give this man ten 
minutes, and hang him ! Let the columns push forward imme- 
diately." The order was obeyed, and the brigades in the rear 
passed the lifeless body of the man dangling from a tree by the 
roadside. He confessed before his death that he had been acting 
as a spy for the enemy for ten months. 

After the battle of Fredericksburg we find Longstreet de- 
tached from Gen. Lee, and undertaking an important separate 
command in South Yirginia. In February, 1863, ho was made 
a Lieutenant-General, and took up his headquarters at Petersburg, 
to watch the south-side approaches to Kichmond, and the move- 
ments of the enemy on the jS^orth Carolina coast. The campaign 
was a barren one. A demonstration was made upon Suffolk, but 
was abandoned after some desultory fighting; and Longstreet 
rejoined the Army of Northern Yirginia on its ill-starred march 
into Pennsylvania. 

His vigorous part in the battle of Gettysburg has already 
been related. Gen. Longstreet was opposed to this battle, fore- 
boded the worst from an attack on the enemy in his strong and 
formidable position, and has since very freely criticised the dispo- 
sitions of his commander-in-chief, especially on the third day 
when Gen. Lee made the last attempt on the enemy's centre with 
not more than fifteen thousand men. He thought that the army 
should have been more concentrated for this supreme effort, and 
that it should have been made with at least thirty thousand men. 
When Pickett's column was mangled and driven back there was 
some fear on the Confederate side that the enemy would advance 
and pursue the advantage ; an apprehension, however, not shared 
by Longstreet, who appears to have been anxious for the coun- 
ter-attack, and to have contemplated an opportunity to give the 
enemy a retaliatory blow. " I had," says he, "Hood and Mc- 
Laws, who had not been engaged ; I had a heavy force of artil- 
lery ; I should have liked nothing better than to have been at- 
tacked, and have no doubt I should have given those who tried 
as bad a reception as Pickett received." 

Col. Fremantle, of the British service, who was a spectator 
of the battle of Gettysburg, and has given a vivid account of it, 
was near Longstreet at the moment when Pickett's troops re- 
treated across the valley. Seated on the top of a fence, at the 



LIEUT.-GEN. JAMES LONGSTREET. 415 

edge of the wood, and looking perfectly calm, the commander 
was accosted by Col. Fremantle, who said to him, in reference to 
the grand yet fearful scene before them, " I wouldn't have missed 
this for anything ! " Longstreet replied, laiighing, •' The devil 
you wouldn't ! I would like to have missed it very much ; we've 
attacked and been repulsed : look there ! " The Confederates 
were slowly and sulkily returning towards his position in small 
broken parties, under a heavy fire of artillery. " I could now," 
says Fremantle, " thoroughly appreciate the term hull-dog^ which 
I had heard applied to him by his soldiers. Difficulties seemed 
to make no other impression upon him than to make him a little 
more savage." 

Some time after this battle, when the theatre of the war was 
pushed back to Virginia, Longstreet was transferred, with five 
brigades, to reinforce the Army of Tennessee under Gen. Bragg. 
In the battle of Chickamauga he commanded the left wing of the 
Confederates ; and it was always claimed by his friends that he 
won the field for Bragg and made the decisive action of the day. 
While this claim is scarcely to be accepted to its full extent, it is 
undoubtedly true that Longstreet held his ground when the right 
wing of Polk gave way, and until it recovered to join in the 
general advance that swept the field and finally routed the en- 
emy. 

After the battle of Chickamauga a violent quarrel sprang up 
between Gens. Bragg and Longstreet, and the War Department 
at Richmond was burdened with a correspondence full of recrim- 
inations. It is not our part to determine the merits of tliis con- 
troversy; it involves questions of military rather thaii personal 
interest. It was stated by Gen. Longstreet that Chickamauga 
was one of the most complete victories of the war, but had not 
been " followed up." The day after the battle Gen. Bragg asked 
Longstreet's advice, which was promptly given: "that he should 
immediately strike Burnside a blow; or, if Burnside escaped, 
then to march on Rosecrans' communications in the rear of Nash- 
ville." Gen. Bragg was at first thought to be in favour of such a 
campaign. But the right wing had not marched more than eight or 
ten miles the next day before it was halted, and ordered to march 
towards Chattanooga, after giving the enemy two and a half days 
to Btrengthen the fortifications. Bragg's army remained in front 



416 LIEUT.-GEN. JAMES LONGSTREET, 

of the enemy's defences, with orders not to assault him. The 
only thinoj the Commanding General had well done, said Long- 
street, was to order the attack on the 19th September ; ev^erything 
else had been wrong. He suggested that Gen. Lee might be 
sent there, while the Army of [Northern Yirginia remained on 
the defensive, to prosecute offensive measures against Rosecrans. 
Bragg's army, in short, was represented to be without organiza- 
tion or mobility, and the government was invoked to interpose 
speedily to save it from disaster. 

It was probably this serious disconcert between Gens. Bragg 
and Longstreet, in which the Government was equally tender to 
both, and weakly equivocal, that prompted to some extent the 
unfortunate detachment of the latter commander for eccentric 
operations in East Tennessee, which accomplished nothing, 
deranged the whole Western campaign, and fatally weakened 
the mountain frontier of Georgia, where should have been the 
decisive trial of strength. Longstreet's expedition to Knoxville 
was a false and disastrous enterprise. Failing to take the town 
by assault, and too weak to risk the operations of siege on 
account of obvious and rapid reinforcements of the enemy, 
Longstreet had no other recourse than to retreat into North- 
eastern Tennessee, and shut himself up for the whole winter in 
a wild and difficult country, where his command was completely 
isolated, and as useless to the Confederacy as if it had not existed. 
There was a large number of barefooted men in his command, 
and their sufferings may be imagined in the depths of winter, 
when the weather was extremely cold, and the mountains cov- 
ered with snow. 

While his little army was thus contained in the mountains 
of East Tennessee, the Federal authorities contrived to get into 
circulation a great number of handbills, for the purpose of 
inducing the distressed soldiers to desert. Gen. Longstreet wrote 
a very handsome letter to Gen. Foster, who had command of the 
Federal forces in that section, to the effect that it would be more 
in accordance with the rules of propriety and custom for the 
Federal Government to communicate any views it entertained 
through him, instead of throwing handbills among the soldiers. 
To this very respectful and dignified letter Gen. Foster returned 
a reply replete with insult and jest. In answer. Gen. Longstreet 



LIEUT.-GEN". JAMES LONGSTREET. 417 

said : " You cannot pretend to have answered my letter in the 
spirit of frankness due to a soldier, and yet it is hard to believe 
that an officer commanding an army of veteran soldiers, on 
whose shoulders rest in no small degree the destiny of empires, 
could so far forget the height of this great argument of arms, 
and so betray the dignity of his high station, as to fall into a con- 
test of jests and jibes. I have read your order announcing the 
favourable terms on which deserters will be received. Step by 
step you have gone on in violation of the laws of honourable 
warfare. Our farms have been destroyed, our women and chil- 
dren have been robbed, and our homes have been pillaged and. 
burned. You have laid your plans, and worked diligently to 
produce wholesale murder by servile insurrection. And now, 
the most ignoble of all, you propose to degrade the human race 
by inducing soldiers to dishonour and forswear themselves. Sol- 
diers who have met you on so many honourable lields, who have 
breasted the storm of battle in defense of their honour, their 
families, and their homes, for three long years, have a right to 
expect more honour, even in their adversaries." 

These severe but entirely just words might have occasioned 
a sense of sliame in a manly breast ; but they were decidedly 
thrown away on Foster, who was one of those Federal com- 
manders who illustrated the extreme Northern school of aboli- 
tion, and whose consciences were never disturbed by any expe- 
dient, no matter how violent or dishonourable, in the prosecution 
of the war. 

The failure of the assault on Knoxville was ascribed by Gen. 
Longstreet to certain delays on the part of Maj.-Gen. McLaws 
in making the attack, and was the occasion of an unpleasant 
quarrel in which it must be confessed Gen. Longstreet showed 
evidence of undue temper. The charges against McLaws were 
not sustained. On the papers in this case, which created great 
scandal in the army. President Davis indorsed : " Gen. Long- 
street has seriously offended against good order and military dis- 
cipline in rearresting an officer (Gen. McLaws) who had been 
released by the War Department, without any new offence hav- 
ing been alleged." The rebuke was a severe one, and it was 
thought about this time that Gen. Longstreet had shown such 
unfortunate evidences of temper that it would be advisable to 

27 



418 LIEUT.-GEN. JAMES LONGSTREET. 

relieve him, lie himself had asked to be relieved, and had 
expressed impatience that he should be held subject to the orders 
of Gen. Johnston, who had now taken command of the army of 
Tennessee, and whose headquarters were certainly at an incon- 
venient distance from the district which Longstreet had eccen- 
trically invaded, and where he was practically isolated, so far 
as reinforcements were concerned. Happily, however, tlie resto- 
ration of railroad communications with Virginia, in the early 
months of 1864, called him to a new and urgent field, and he 
was enabled to rejoin his old commander, Gen. Lee, in season for 
the great campaign of that year, which decided the long-vexed 
fate of Richmond. 

A statement has already been made in another part of this 
work of the wounding of Gen. Longstreet, by the misdirected 
fire of his own men, in the second day's fight of the Wilderness, 
just at the time he was organizing a general attack on the en- 
emy's works. It was a most untimely accident. Gen. Long- 
street was always persuaded that he would have inflicted a de- 
cisive blow — in his own words, have "had another Bull Run on 
the enemy " — but for the fall from his wound, and the consequent 
delay and miscarriage of his plan, which contemplated, while he 
attacked in front, a movement on the Brock road to cut off the 
enemy. The fire which wounded him was from the flanking 
party, which mistook the cavalcade of the commander for a body 
of Federal cavalry. Gen. Longstreet was near enough the men 
to shout to them to cease firing. He was shot through the neck 
and shoulder. 

His wound, though not dangerous, was very severe, kept him 
from the field nearly six months, and produced a paralysis of the 
nerves of his right arm. About the close of October, 1861, he 
resumed command of his corps, having " marked with pride and 
pleasure the success which had attended their heroic efforts." 
In the last days of Richmond, his command was generally on the 
north side of the James ; but he crossed to Petersburg in time 
to take part in the last battle there, checking the enemy by a 
timely reinforcement, and enabling Gen. Lee to hold an interiour 
line closely covering the town. He joined in the final retreat, 
and was included in the surrender at Appomattox Court House. 

This brief record of Gen. Longstreet's experience of the war 



LIEUT.-GEN". JAMES LONGSTREET. 419 

is yet not so brief or general as to be without indications of the 
military character and aptitude of the man. His only trials of 
separate commands — the expedition against Suffolk and that 
against Knoxville, had poor results ; and iiis reputation was so en- 
tirely that of the subordinate, so overshadowed by Lee's great 
name, that he may be said to have made but little separate con- 
spicuous figure in the war. Put as Lee's lieutenant he was 
trusted, faithful, diligent, a hardy campaigner, a fierce obstinate 
fighter, an officer who devoted his whole mind to the war, and, 
indeed, seldom gave excursion to his thoughts beyond the voca- 
tion of arms. He had great and peculiar control over his men, 
from a habit of plain, practical advice, which made his general 
orders very unique, and distinguished them from the tawdry, 
rhetorical displays too common in the war. Instead of attempt- 
ing fine writing, he gave his men practical hints about the use of 
arms and modes of attack, and appealed to the common sense 
of the soldier. On the eve of the battles around Eichmond, he 
wrote in general orders to his troops : " Eemember, though the 
fiery noise of the battle is indeed most terrifying, and seems to 
threaten universal ruin, it is not so destructive as it seems, and 
few soldiers after all are slain. This the Commandine; General 
desires particularly to impress upon the fresh and unexperienced 
troops who now constitute a part of this command. Let officers 
and men, even under the most formidable fire, preserve a quiet 
demeanour and self-possessed temper. Keep cool, obey orders, 
and aim low. Eemember, while you are doing this, and driving 
the enemy before you, your comrades may be relied on to sup- 
port you on either side, and are in turn relying upon you. Stand 
well to your duty.'-' 

In making the assault on the enemy's fort at Knoxville, he 
sought to impress his officers and men with " the importance of 
making a rush when they once start to take such a position. If 
the troops, once started, rush forward ti,ll the point is carried, the 
loss will be trifling ; whereas, if they hesitate, the enemy gets 
courage, or, being behind a comparatively sheltered position, will 
fight the harder. Beside, if the assaulting party once loses cour- 
age and falters, he will not find courage, probably, to make a re- 
newed eff'ort. The men should be cautioned before they start at 



4:20 LIEUT.-GEN. JAMES LONGSTEEET. 

sucli work, and told, what they are to do, and the importance and 
great safety of doins; it with a rush." 

Gen, Longstreet had a genuine and inimitable sang-froid in 
battle. It did as much to encourage his men as many passionate 
displays of fervour, and was especially effective in keeping them 
steady in the most desperate circumstances. 

The personal appearance of Gen. Longstreet was not engaging. 
It was decidedly sombre ; his bluish-grey eye was intelligent, but 
cold ; a very heavy brown beard was allowed to grow untrim- 
med ; he seldom spoke unnecessarily^ ; his weather-stained clothes, 
splashed boots, and heavy black felt hat gave a certain fierceness 
of aspect to the man. His temper was high and combative, and 
he was quick to imagine slights to his importance. But his re- 
lations with Gen. Lee, who seems to have been most felicitous in 
accommodating the peculiarities of all his lieutenants, were not 
only pleasant and cordial, but affectionate to an almost brotherly 
degree ; an example of beautiful friendship in the war that was 
frequently remarked by the public. 

Since the war Gen. Longstreet has engaged in commercial 
pursuits in New Orleans. The name of the firm is " Longstreet, 
Owens & Co." 



LIEUT.-GE]^. J. E. B. STUART. 



CHAPTER XXXYII. 

Unique figure of Stuart in the war. — His first cavalry command in the Valley of 
Virginia. — Adventure with Capt. Perkins. — Complimented by G-en Johnston. — 
The action of Dranesville. — " The Ride around McClellan." — Adventure at Ver- 
diersville. — Capture of Gen. Pope's coat and papers. — Expedition into Pennsyl- 
vania. — At Fredericksburg. — At ChancellorsvUle. — His characteristic intercourse 
with Stonewall Jackson. — Splendid review at Brandy Station. — The scene 
changed into bloodiest battle. — Gen. Stuart's serious omission in the Gettysburg 
campaign. — Adventure in the flanking movement in North Virginia. — Hair- 
breadth escapes of the commander. — He is shot down at Yellow Tavern. — His 
last moments. — Criticism of his miUtary character. 

Perhaps the best-remembered figure of the war in Yirginia 
from its uniqueness and brilliancy was that of Stuart and his 
brave troopers scouring the country, making magnificent sur- 
prises of the enemy, always startling the public with sudden ap- 
paritions, and bounding the most distant parts of the chief theatre 
of war with a luminous track of romance and adventure, Near- 
ly everybody in IJTorthern Virginia had at some time or other 
seen the commander, and obtained the impression of a face and 
figure not easily forgotten. The drooping hat, caught up with a 
star and decorated with an ebon plume ; the tall cavalry boots 
decked with golden spurs ; the " fighting jacket ;" the magnifi- 
cent charger, mud-splashed from head to foot, were all familiar 
objects — the popular marks of the famous cavalier. He had a 
face to be remembered Beneath a lofty forehead were brilliant 
blue eyes, which, when lighted up, were piercing and full of 
deep expression. A heavy beard covered the lower part of his 
face ; a huge moustache gave some fierceness to the expression, 
but curled at the least provocation with contagious laughter ; a 



422 LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUART. 

ruddy complexion and dancing eyes told of high health and the 
exuberant vitality of the man. He had a gay careless manner 
which greeted with indifference " the thunder or the sunshine." 
Full of ready jest ; always in for a frolic ; fond of practical jokes; 
attended in camp by the thrumi of the banjo; often waking up the 
little country towns on his march for impromptu balls and merry- 
makings ; as ready for an opossum-hunt as for a battle ; with all 
sorts of odds and ends in his train, including a French cook, 
Sweeny, jr., of the banjo, and a Prussian adjutant; the idol of 
the country belles who " followed his feather," and among whom 
he distributed complimentary commissions as his "lieutenants," 
there was an appearance of lightness in the young man, not yet 
turned his thirtieth year ; and in the midst of so much of what 
we must call downright frivolity, one would have scarcely recog- 
nized the cavalry commander who filled the whole country with 
the fame of his sword and was the eyes and ears of Gen. Lee's 
army. It is a unique figure and character, in which we intro- 
duce one of the most brilliant and exceptional men of the Avar. 

James E. B. Stuart was born in Patrick County, Yirginia ; 
graduated at West Point in 1854; and saw his first active mili- 
tary service in the wilds of New Mexico, wliere he had abun- 
dant opportunity of indulging his inclination in riding and fight- 
ing ; and no doubt got much of the roving, dashing, adventurous 
habit apparent in his future career. In the John Brown aff'air 
at Harper's Ferry, he was acting as Lee's aide, and it was his 
sword that brought the outlaw to the ground. On accepting the 
service of the Confederate States, in the war of which John 
Brown M^as messenger and prophet, Stuart was sent with the 
rank of lieutenant-colonel to command a small body of cavalry in 
the valley of Virginia, then within the department of Gen. J. E. 
Johnston. In this campaign, in which Johnston foiled Patterson 
and succeeded in transferring his army to Manassas, Stuart did 
most important service, watching the enemy with lynx-eyed 
vigilance, moving to and fro on his front, picketing the Poto- 
mac from the Blue Eidge to the Alleghanies, and hanging on 
his march as he advanced towards Winchester. On one occa- 
sion he surprised a whole company of Patterson's green soldiers 
in rather amusing circumstances. With a handful of horsemen 
he came upon a company of skirmishers gathered in about a 



LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUAET. 423 

farm-house, the tired vohmteers liaving stacked their arms in 
the fence corners, and betaken themselves to drinking milk and 
other pleasant and nonchalant occupations. Stuart rode boldly 
up to the house, exciting such little suspicion, that a civil sol- 
dier, liaving no idea of an enemy in the vicinity, and supposing 
that he was obliging a Federal officer, jumped forward and let 
down the bars that admitted the horsemen into the yard. The 
next moment there was a yell, a flourish of drawn pistols, and 
the astonished milk-drinking skirmishers found themselves pris- 
oners of war, and were carried off in sight of the main army. 

At another time a Capt. Perkins, of Patterson's army, com- 
manding a battery of light artillery, was riding carelessly about 
half a mile in advance of his battery. He was suddenly ac- 
costed by three officers, one of whom exclaimed in a familiar 
voice and manner: "Hallo, Perk, Pm glad to see you ; what are 
you doing here?" The captain, recognizing in the speaker his 
old West Point chum, J. E. B. Stuart, returned the salute heart- 
ily, recalling his college sobriquet: "Why, Beauty, how are 
you? I didn't know you were with us." "Nor did I know you 
were on our side," replied Stuart. " What command have you ? " 

" There's my command coming over the hill," replied Per- 
kins, pointing complacently to the well-equipped battery that 
was approaching with Federal colours displayed. " Oh, the dev- 
il! " exclaimed Stuart, wheeling suddenly and plunging into the 
forest. " Good-bye, Perk." 

The adventurous Confederate might have taken another pris- 
oner here, as there were two aides with him, and Perkins was 
alone ; but it had been a mutual mistake, and Stuart, in his gen- 
erous and high humour, forbore to take advantage of an old 
comrade's inadvertency. 

After the battle of Manassas, in which he was mentioned by 
Gen. Beauregard for " enterprise and ability," Stuart was made 
a Brigadier-General, and did hard work on the Fairfax line. He 
continued in Northern Virginia under Gen. Johnston, who had 
remarked him in the Yalley campaign, and then designated him 
as " the indefatigable Stuart." Such, indeed, was the confidence 
he secured that when, at a much later period of the war. Gen. 
Johnston was transferred from Virginia to the Department of the 
"West, the distinguished commander was induced to exclaim: 



424: LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUART. 

"How can I eat, or sleep, or rest in peace, witliout Stuart on the 
outpost ! " But bj this time Stuart, ascending in reputation, had 
obtained a division, then a corps, and was indispensable in the 
great campaigns of Lee, whose right-hand man he became. 

In December, 1861, while on the lines of the Potomac, Stu- 
art met with a serious disaster in an afi'air called by exaggeration 
the battle of Dranesville, where the Federals gained their first 
success since Kich Mountain. He had set out with a lai'ge for- 
aging force of about 2,500 men, escorting nearly 300 wagons. 
He was successful in securing forage, and about midday of the 
20th December, arrived near Dranesville. On the same day, a 
foraging force of the enemy had marched to the same neighbour- 
hood. It consisted of Gen. Ord's brigade — four full regiments of 
"Bucktail rifles," and some artillery — in all, at least 3,500 men. 
A rocket shot up by the enemy gave to the Confederates the first 
intimation of their presence. They were deployed in heavy 
clouds of skirmishers in the woods. To give his wagon-train time 
to retreat in safety, Gen. Stuart instantly prepared for battle. 
He was taken at disadvantage ; the enemy, in superiour force, oc- 
cupied a strong position, and was sheltered by the woods ; the 
Confederate artillery could gain no position except by advancing 
right up the road. The consequence was that Stuart's command 
was thrown into disorder ; and after an irregular fight, he ordered 
a retreat, having, however, saved his wagon-train, and the enemy 
making no attempt to pursue him. His loss in killed and 
wounded was about 200 men. 

The adventure which gave Stuart his first instalment of bril- 
liant reputation was his famous " ride around McClellan," on the 
Richmond lines. He had already done excellent service in the 
preceding campaigns, operating in front of the enemy towards 
Arlington Heights, and covering the rear of Johnston's army 
when it fell back from Centreville. He had now become the 
chief cavalry leader of the war. On the 18th, 14th, and 15th 
June, 1861, with portions of the First, Fourth, and Ninth Yir- 
ginia cavalry, a part of the Jeff Davis Legion, with whom were 
the Boykin Rangers and a section of the Stuart horse artillery, 
the daring commander made a reconnoissance between the Pa- 
munkey and Chickahominy Rivers, and succeed'ed in passing 
around the rear of the whole of the Federal army, routing the 



LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUART. 425 

enenij in a series of skirmishes, taking a number of prisoners, 
and destroying and capturing stores to a large amount. lie lost 
but one man on the perilous circuit. On his return he came 
upon the Cliickahominy below all the bridges, and where deep 
water flowed. He found it impossible to cross his command. 
It was a desperate suspense. The enemy had blocked up all the 
main roads, and had thousands scouring the country, eager to 
entrap the daring cavalier. He was but two miles from McClel- 
lan's headquarters. In the darkness of night cavalryman after 
cavalryman essayed to swim the river. JS^ot more than fifty suc- 
ceeded in getting over, and as they stood on the opposite bank, 
a strange but friendly voice whispered in the dark: "The old 
bridge is a few yards higher up ; it can be mended." The men 
on the other side caught at the new hope, and soon found the 
wrecked bridge. It was severe work ; tree after tree was felled ; 
earth, and twigs, and branches were carried and piled up on the 
main props ; old logs were rolled and patched across the stream ; 
and after long and weary labour the bridge was built, and the 
silent procession of cavalry, artillery, prisoners, and spoils, safely 
and quietly passed on the frail, impromptu support, scarcely any 
sounds being lieard but the rush of waters beneath. Once across, 
and as the rising sun crimsoned the tree tops, the command, seek- 
ing the shade of the woods, plunged through the last lines of the 
enemy, dashed into the open ground, and, speeding along the 
Charles City road, were soon in sight of the Confederate pickets. 

The audacity of this enterprise delighted the people of Rich- 
mond, and they were especially pleased with the annoyance it 
caused the enemy. It was said that McClellan had got " his 
rear well spanked," and that the castigation was a proper prelude 
to his more severe punishment in the coming battle. There is 
no doubt the expedition was designed by Gen. Lee to discover 
all the positions of McClellan preparatory to the decisive battle, 
and that the information it obtained was more important than 
the eclat reckoned by the popular applause. 

In referring some time afterwards to the perils of the expedi- 
tion, especially when it confronted the swollen waters of the 
Chickahominy, fifteen feet deep, with an aroused enemy in the 
rear, one of Stuart's officers said : " It was a tight place. General. 
I expected the column to be attacked at any moment, and we 



426 LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUART. 

might liave been destroyed without the possibility of retreat ! " 
"One thing was left," replied Stuart. "What?" ''To die 
game ! " 

After the battles of Richmond, when Jackson was about to 
make his famous advance on Manassas, Stuart was required to 
place his cavalry on his flanks. Leaving his pleasant headquar- 
ters in the grassy yard of the old Hanover Court-House, he has- 
tened to put his column in motion for the head-waters of the Rapi- 
dan. On Jackson's march to Manassas, Stuart was on the right 
of the Confederate column, with a cordon of pickets, and a net- 
work of scouting parties, scouring the whole region. To pene- 
trate his chain of vedettes in an}" important movement was next 
to impossible, a task which the enemy often attempted without 
effect. 

But Gen. Stuart was not as careful of his personal safety as 
he might and should have been, and in this respect he was con- 
stantly running the narrowest risks. One of these personal 
adventures happened on this expedition, and he barely escaped 
with his life. Attended by only a portion of his staff, he had 
ridden to Yerdiersville, a small settlement on the road from 
Orange Court-IIouse to Chancellorsville, where he expected to 
be joined by Fitzhugh Lee's brigade of cavalry. Awaiting this 
portion of his command Gen. Stuart, attended by his few com- 
panions, passed the night in the village, the commander sleeping 
in the j^orch of one of the houses. About this time the country 
was ver}' much infested by prowling detachments of Federal 
cavaliy. In the early morning, Stuart, who had just awakened 
from his sleep, descried a body of cavalry coming up the road. 
He supposed it to be the head of Fitzhugh Lee's column, but, not 
without momentary uneasiness, he called to Capt. Mosby (after- 
wards so famous as a partisan, and who kept some of the upper 
counties of Virginia so clear of the enemy that they were desig- 
nated " Mosby's Confederacy ") to observe the approaching 
horsemen. Mosby had just walked to the gate of the inclosure, 
when a voile}' of bullets whistled over his head, and gave all the 
information that was desired. By the time the cavahwmen had 
gallo])ed to the fence a few swift steps had brought Stuart to the 
side of his favourite mare '' Skylark," grazing in the yard, and, 
seizing the halter, without bridle or saddle, on the bare back of 



LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUaRT. 427 

the horse, he leaped the inclosure, cleared the open ground 
under a shower of bullets, and, digging the spurs into the sides 
of the noble animal, sliot towards the forest with the speed of 
an arrow, and was soon lost in the cover of the woods. He left 
behind him, on the porch where he had rested, the cape of his 
overcoat ; and, lying near it, a brown hat, looped up with a golden 
star, and decorated with a floating black feather, was evidence to 
the Federal cavalrymen of the strange and noble game that had 
escaped them. 

Just one week after this adventure, when Pope was hastily 
retiring before Lee's column, Gen. Stuart made an expedition to 
the enemy's rear, and struck the Orange and Alexandria Railroad 
at Catlett's Station. It was a complete surprise of the enemy in 
a dark and stormy night. Without light enough to see their hands 
before them, the attacking column plunged forward at full speed 
through ditches and ravines, overrunning the enemy's baggage 
train, burning his wagons, and creating an indescribable confu- 
sion. As chance would have it, Stuart came upon Pope's head- 
quarters just in time to find that that General had fled from the 
scene, in such hurry and disorder, however, as to leave his plans 
and papers, and among other things, his uniform coat, which Stu- 
art at once seized in restitution for the cape and hat he had lost 
at Yerdiersville. It was more than a fair equivalent for the ad- 
venture at the latter place. The captured papers were sent to 
Lee, and the coat reserved for exhibition in Richmond as a tro- 
phy of the raid. It was placed in a shop-window there, with a 
label attached to it, on which Stuart wrote : " Taken from the 
man who said he never expected to see anything but the backs 
of rebels." 

After the exhausting campaign of the summer of 1862, ter- 
minating on the field of Sharpsburg, both armies rested for a 
brief period. Gen. Stuart had inaugurated a policy of raids in 
these intervals between the great contestants; and as it was ad- 
visable to beat up the quarters of the enemy, he was sent in Oc- 
tober, with 1,800 men, and four pieces of artillery, to essay a 
Becond ride around McClellan. At daylight on the 10th Octo- 
ber he crossed the Potomac, between Williamsport and Hancock, 
proceeded by a rapid march to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 
"which he reached at dark on the same day, captured the place 



428 LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUAET. 

and destroyed the machine shops and railroad buildings, contain- 
ing large numbers of arms and other public stores. From Cham- 
bersburg Gen. Stuart decided, after mature consideration, to strike 
for the vicinity of Leesburg, as the best route of return, partic- 
ularly as the enemy's presence would have rendered the direction 
of Cumberland, full of mountain gorges, exceedingly hazardous. 
The route selected was through an open country. Of course the 
wily commander left nothing undone to prevent the inhabitants 
from detecting his real route and object. He started directly 
towards Gettysburg, but, having passed the Blue llidge, turned 
back towards Hagerstown for six or eight miles, and then crossed 
to Maryland by Emmettsburg, where, as his troopers passed, they 
were hailed by the inhabitants with the most enthusiastic de- 
monstrations of joy. 

Taking the route towards Frederick, Gen. Stuart intercepted 
Borae dispatches directed to Washington, which satisfied liim that 
his whereabouts was still a problem to the enemy. He now took 
the bold resolution of passing entirely around the Federal arm}', 
and cutting his way through to the ford near Leesburg. Mov- 
ing with the utmost rapidity, he reached Hyattstown, below 
Frederick, at daylight on the morning of the 12th, and pushing 
on towards Poolesville, found that the road in that direction was 
barred by Gen. Stoneman with about 5,000 troops, and that rail- 
road trains were standing ready, with steam up, and loaded with 
infantry, to move instantly to the point where he attempted to 
cross. Making a circuit through the woods, and guarding well 
bis flanks and rear, Stnart avoided the town, and, pushing boldly 
forward, met the head of the enemy's force going towards Pooles- 
ville, at a point near "White's ford. Quick as thought, Stuart's 
sharpshooters sprang to the ground, while the charging cavalry 
cut through the enemy's lines ; and with Pelham's guns on a 
high crest screening the movement, Stuart made a bold and rapid 
stroke for the ford. The passage of the river was eflected with 
all the precision of passing a defile on drill. All the results of 
the expedition were accomplished, without the loss of a single 
man killed. The march, in respect of rapidity, is perhaps with- 
out a parallel in the record of the war. The distance from 
Chambersburg to Leesburg, ninety miles, was accomplished with 
only one hour's halt, in thirty-six hours, including a forced pas- 



LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUART. 429 

sage of the Potomac. In his official narration of his snccess, 
Gen. Stnart wrote : " We seized and brought over a large num- 
ber of horses, the property of citizens of the United States. The 
valuable information obtained in this reconnoissance, as to the 
distribution of the enemy's force, was communicated orally to 
the Commanding General, and need not be here repeated. A 
number of public functionaries and prominent citizens were taken 
captive and brought over as hostages for our own unoffending 
citizens, whom the enemy had torn from their homes, and con- 
fined in dungeons in the North. The results of this expedi- 
tion, in a moral and political point of view, can hardly be esti- 
mated, and the consternation among property-holders in Penn- 
sylvania was beyond description. * * * * Believing that 
the hand of God was clearly manifested in the signal deliverance 
of my command from danger, and the crowning success attend- 
ing it, I ascribe to Him the praise, the honour, and the glory." 

In the battle of Fredericksourg, Stuart's command was more 
conspicuous than it had ever before been on a single field. Act- 
ing in conjunction with Jackson, his horse artillery was called 
into play ; and it was at one time designed by Gen. Jackson, 
strengthened by this rapid and effective arm in his front, to make 
a final attempt to dislodge the enemy into the river. About the 
close of the day, when one of Gen. Lee's aides rode up to ascer- 
tain how things were going on in this direction, Stuart replied: 
" Tell Gen. Lee that all is right. Jackson has not advanced, but I 
have ; and I am going to crowd them with artillery." The attack 
designed by Jackson was not made ; but Stuart did not retire 
his guns until dark, when no response could be elicited from the 
enemy's artillery, and the Confederates remained masters of the 
bloody field.* 

* Fredericksburg was the ghastliest field of the war. One of Stuart's stafiF, who 
traversed the ground with the burial parties, has given a picture of it that has not 
been excelled in its vivid realization of the horrours of war. The reader, accustomed 
to brilliant views of war, interwoven with noble and chivalric deeds, will pause here 
to lift the embroidery and see what it covers : 

" On a space of ground not over two acres we counted 680 dead bodies ; and 
more than 1,200 altogether were found on the small plain between the heights and 
Fredericksburg, those nearest the town having mostly been killed by our artillery, 
which had played with dreadful eifect upon the enemy's dense columns. More than 
one-half of these dead had belonged to Meagher's brave Irish brigade, which 



430 LIEUT.-GEN. J, E. B. STUART. 

In the battle of Chancellorsville, Stuart cooperated again with 
Jackson, his active horsemen concealing the flank movement on 
the enemy. When Jackson was shot down in the Wilderness, 
and A. P. Hill wounded about the same time, the command of 
the corps devolved upon Rodes, as the senior division com- 
mander upon the field ; but he modestly concurred that Maj.- 
Gen. Stuart should be sent for, and requested to assume the di- 
rection of affairs until the pleasure of Gen. Lee should be known. 
When Gen. Jackson, wounded and removed from the field, heard 
that Stuart had taken command, he said : "Tell him to act upon 
his own judgment, and do what he thinks best; I have implicit 
confidence in him." The next day Stuart fought over the ground 
won by Jackson, extending his line so as to approximate the Con- 
federate troops on the south-east of Chancellorsville, and hurling 
the infantry impetuously against the enemy. An eye-witness of 
the attack says that he '' could not get rid of the idea that Henry 
of Navarre had come back, except that Stuart's 'plume' was 
black ! Everywhere, like Navarre, he was in front, and the men 

was nearly anniMlated during the several attacks. A number of the houses which 
we entered presented a horrid spectacle — dead and wounded intermingled iu thick 
masses. The latter, in a deplorable state from want of food and care, were cursing 
their own cause, friends, and commander-in-chief, for the sufferings they endured. 
As we walked slowly along, Capt. Phillips suddenly pressed my arm, and, pointing 
to the body of a soldier whose head was so frightfully wounded that part of the brain 
was protruding, broke out with, "Great God, that man is still living 1" And so he 
was. Hearing our steps the unfortunate sufferer opened his glassy eyes and looked 
at us with so pitiable an expression that I could not for long after recall it without 
shuddering. A surgeon being close at hand, was at once called to the spot to render 
what assistance was yet possible ; but he pronounced the man in a dying condition, 
and observed that it was totally opposed to all medical experience, and could only be 
considered in the light of a miracle, that a human being with such a wound should 
have lived through nearly sixty hours of exposure and starvation." 

" I was painfully shocked at the inevitably rough manner in which the Yankee 
soldiers treated the dead bodies of their comrades. Not far from Marye's Heights 
existed a hole of considerable dimensions, which had once been an ice-house ; and in 
order to spare time and labour, tliis had been selected by the Federal officers to serve 
as a large common grave, not less than 800 of their men being buried in it. The 
bodies of these poor fellows, stripped nearly naked, were gathered in huge mounds 
around the pit, and tumbled neck and heels into it ; the duU ' thud ' of corpse falling 
on corpse coming up from the depths of the hole until the solid mass of human flesh 
reached near the surface, when a covering of logs, chalk, and mud, closed the mouth 
of this vast and awful tomb." 



LIEUT.-GEN". J. E. B. STUART. 431 

'followed the feather.' At the risk, however, of spoiling this 
romantic picture, and passing from the sublime to what some 
persons may call the ridiculous, an additional fact may be stated, 
namely : That Gen. Stuart, attacking with Jackson's veteran 
corps, and carrying line after line of works, moved at the head 
of his men, singing ' Old Joe Hooker, will you come out of the 
Wilderness.' " 

Wlien Stuart heard of Jackson's death tears gushed into his 
eyes. The friendship of these two commanders, so contrasted in 
the meditative air of the one, his serious, diffident temper in 
society, and the gay insouciant manner of the other, liad been 
contracted in the first periods of the war, dated from the early 
campaigns of the Yalley, and remainefd warm and constant to 
the last. It is said that Stuart was the only one of Jackson's 
companions in arms who ever ventured to joke the austere com- 
mander, and that Jackson, although reddening and confused at 
approaches of familiarity, and inapt to take a joke, always bore 
Stuart's facetious and high spirits in good part, and sometimes 
laughed, without restraint, at his own expense. One of Stuart's 
staff-officers. Col. Heros von Borcke, a Prussian, relates that in 
attempting the English language to convey a compliment to Gen. 
Jackson, wliile intending to say, " It warms my heart when he 
talks to me," he had employed the expression, " It makes ray 
heart burn," etc. Stuart, wliile calling upon Jackson with a 
number of visitors, rendered the compliment by making the 
Prussian chevalier say most absurdly that " it gave him the 
heartburn to hear Jackson talk," and set the whole company into 
a roar of laughter. Dr. Dabney, the biographer of Jackson, 
referring to a period when the army was in winter quarters, after 
the battle of Fredericksburg, says : " While Stuart poured out 
his ' quips and cranks,' not seldom at Jackson's expense, the lat- 
ter sat by, sometimes unprepared with any repartee, sometimes 
blushing, but always enjoying the jest with a quiet and sunny 
laugh. The ornaments which the former proprietor of Moss 
Neck had left upon the walls of the General's quarters gave 
Stuart many a topic for badinage. Afi'ecting to believe that they 
were of Gen. Jackson's selection, he pointed now to the portrait 
of some famous racer, and now to the print of some dog cele- 
brated for his hunting feats, as queer revelations of the piivate 



432 LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUART. 

tastes of tlie great Presbyterian. It was in the midst of such a 
scene as this, one day, that dinner was announced, and the two 
Generals passed to the mess-table. It so happened that Jackson 
had jnst received, as a present from a patriotic lady, some butter, 
upon the adornment of which the fair donor had exhausted her 
housewife's skill, and that the print impressed upon its surface 
was a gallant cock. The servants, in honour of Gen. Stuart's pres- 
ence, had chosen this to grace the centre of the board. As his 
eye fell upon it, he paused, and with mock gravity pointed to it, 
saying, ' See there, gentlemen ! If there is not the crowning 
evidence of our host's sporting tastes. He even puts his favourite 
game-cock upon his butter ! ' The dinner of course began with 
inextinguishable laughter, in which Gen. Jackson joined with as 
much enjoyment as any." 

"When Gen. Lee prepared for the Pennsylvania campaign, in 
the summer of 1863, all parts of his army were thoroughly re- 
organized, including the cavalry. This arm had been strength- 
ened by several brigades from the South, and was now formed 
into a separate corps of three divisions, commanded by Hampton, 
Fitzhugh Lee, and William H. F. Lee, the last a son of the Com- 
mander-in-chief ; Stuart taking rank as Lieutenant-General, and 
commanding the corps, constituting the largest and most brilliant 
body of horsemen that had yet been assembled on the Confederate 
side at any time of the war. It numbered more than twelve 
thousand sabres, and the famous horse-artillery had been 
increased to twenty-four guns. When this force was reviewed, 
and appeared drawn out in line a mile and a half long, in the 
open plain near Brandy Station, it was a magnificent spectacle ; 
and the thousands of people who attended it looked with pride 
upon the glittering array that marched gaily through fields of 
sweet clover in the warm sun and balmy air of the month of 
June. The brilliant and romantic effect of this review well 
suited Stuart's temper, his love of display, and his fondness of 
female admiration. He was this day in his glory. Numerous 
visitors had been invited from Richmond ; special cars with the 
battle-flas: floatinor from the locomotive bore the official and dis- 
tinguished persons who had agreed to honour the occasion with 
their presence ; the general trains on the railroad brought in 
crowds of guests who were forwarded to their destinations in 



LIEUT.-GEN, J. E. B. STUART. 433 

ambulances and wagons prepared for the purpose ; the little 
village of Culpeper Court-House was thronged with ladies from 
the neighbourhood, and, from the porches and verandas of the 
houses, flowers were showered down upon groups of officers who 
traversed tlie streets. The review took place in open and pictur- 
esque ground. Gen. Stuart took his position on a slight emi- 
nence, whither many hundreds of ladies had gathered, and on a 
splendid charger, decked with bouquets, reviewed the whole 
corps as it passed in squadrons. Then came a sham charge by 
regiments, the artillery advancing at the same time at a gallop, 
and opening a rapid fire upon an imaginary enemy. The joyous 
and garish day wound up with a ball ; and gay companies, that 
could not be elsewhere accomodated, danced in the open air on 
the turf, by the light of wood fires, and completed the animation 
of the scene. 

Little thought was there then that in a few days this scene 
was to be reversed and changed into bloodiest battle, and that 
numbers of those who had gaily attended the review were to be 
stretched cold and lifeless on the same ground ! 

While Gen. Hooker, in command of the Federal army in front 
of Fredericksburg, was bewildered as to the main movement of 
Lee, he determined to send his whole cavalry corps (15,000 
sabres) to break up Stuart's camp at Cnlpeper Court-House, and 
to discover, if possible, the intent of his adversary in the disposi- 
tion of his forces. In the dawn of the 9th June, the alarm was 
given that the enemy was crossing at Beverley's Ford ; and before 
Stuart, surprised, could get his forces well in hand, a dense mass 
of Federal horsemen had driven Jones' brigade a couple of miles. 
Ko sooner had he checked the enemy in this direction, by bring- 
ing up the brigades of William Lee and Wade Hampton, than he 
found his rear attacked by two brigades of the enemy which, 
crossing at Kelley's Ford, had taken a circuitous route along an 
unguarded bridle-path, and, advancing to Brandy Station, had 
taken possession of the plateau where the Confederate head- 
quarters had been. Here a determined combat ensued, in which, 
for the first time in the war, on any considerable scale, cavalry 
fought in legitimate cavalry style. The men no longer dis- 
mounted and used their carbines ; it was a fight with sabres, 
boot to boot. A few moments were sufficient to decide a contest 

28 



434 LIEUT.-GEN. J, E. B. STUART. 

BO close. As the scene of the short melee cleared, the ground was 
seen covered with dead and wounded ; a Federal battery, every 
horse of which had been killed, stood abandoned ; and far away 
a confused mass of fugitives hurried towards the river, with the 
shells of vengeful artillery bursting over their heads. The suc- 
cess of Stuart was four hundred prisoners, and three pieces of 
artillery. It was, we repeat, the only legitimate combat of 
cavalry in the war, on the scale of a battle, and in the novel trial 
Stuart, although much to blame for the surprise he suffered, 
and the disadvantage at which he was taken, bore off the palm. 

"We have already stated in the narrative of Gettysburg the 
serious omission of Gen. Stuart in that campaign, in which in 
fact his whole magnificent force of cavalry was neutralized by 
the interposition between it and Gen. Lee of the enemy's main 
army. When Stuart, unable to impede the enemy's passage of 
the Potomac, deflected eastward and crossed the river at Seneca, 
it was to move from his proper place on the enetny's left to 
watch his movements, and to take a position where it was neces- 
sary to make a circuit of the entire Federal army to rtvjoin Gen. 
Lee. These circuits had been occasions of great newspaper sen- 
sations ; they were admirable enough as independent move- 
ments ; but in this instance, while Stuart was performing his 
accustomed feat, Gen. Lee was left without information of the 
enemy and was surprised by the battle of Gettysburg. The sen- 
sation of the circuit was prodigious after the fashion of raids. 
Great consternation was occasioned ; Stuart's troopers were 
known to have approached within twenty-five miles of Washing- 
ington ; the Washington and Baltimore Railroad was broken up, 
and for a few hours the Federal capital was isolated, not only 
from the army on which it depended for defence, but from com- 
munication with the North ; stragglers and supply trains were 
captured ; and thus the march around the Federal army was 
made, Stuart reaching Carlisle on 2d July, not until the bat- 
tle of Gettysburg had been opened, and the benefit of his infor- 
mation of the enemy's movements had been wholly lost to Gen. 
Lee. He had played only a brilliant episode when he should 
have performed a necessary and constituent part of the drama. 

The last of Stuart's peculiar adventures in running the gaunt- 
let of the enemy occurred in the campaign of manoeuvres which 



LIEUT." GEN. J. E. B. STUART. 435 

terminated the third year of the war in Virginia. When in 
October of that year Gen. Lee made a flank movement, by which 
he hoped to get a position between the enemy and Washington, 
and force him to deliver battle, General Stuart took two brigades 
and several batteries and set out for Catlett's Station, to harass 
the enemy's flank and rear. Having passed Auburn, he at 
once discovered that he was between the advancing columns of 
the enemy. Enormous lines of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and 
baggage wagons were passing on both sides of him, and to have 
attacked them would have resulted in heavy loss. Nothing was 
left for Stuart but to conceal his force in the pine thickets ; and 
orders were accordingly issued that no sound should be uttered 
throughout the command. He was completely hemmed in ; and 
the heavy tramp of the enemy's infantry and the rumble of his 
artillery sounded plainly in the ears of the concealed soldiers. 
The accidental report of a fire-arm would have disclosed their 
position, and, in view of the overwhelming force of the enemy, 
nothing awaited them but destruction or surrender. The latter 
was not to be thought of. Three scouts were disguised in the 
Federal uniform, and instructed to cross the enemy's line of 
march, report the situation to Gen. Lee, and request him to 
attack the enemy's left flank at the next daybreak, when Stuart, 
breaking cover, would attack in the opposite direction, and com- 
plete the confusion. The adventure succeeded. At dawn Kodes 
opened on the enemy as suggested ; and Stuart, hurling the 
thunders of his artillery from an opposite direction, in the very 
pitch of the confusion, limbered up his guns, and dashed with 
cavalry and artillery through the hostile ranks, giving them a 
complete surprise, and inflicting upon them a loss of several hun- 
dred in killed and wounded. 

Having proceeded to Manassas and thence to Gainesville, 
Stuart, with a portion of his command, was falling back from the 
latter place, when Gen. Kilpati-ick came down from Bull Run, 
determined, as he said, to make short work of " the rebel raid." 
The Federal commander was described as "furious as a wild 
boar." He declared to a citizen, at whose house he stopped, 
that " Stuart had been boasting of driving him from Culpeper, 
and now he was going to drive Stuart." He was about to sit 
down to an excellent dinner as he made the observation, when, 



436 LIEUT. -GEN. J. E. B. STUART. 

suddenl}'', the sound of artillery attracted his attention. Gen. 
Stuart had played him one of those tricks which are dangerous. 
He had arranged with Fitzhugh Lee, whose division was still 
towards Manassas, to come up on the enemy's flank and 
rear, as he pursued, and when he was ready, Stuart would face 
about and attack. Everything took place as it was planned. 
The signal-gun roared, and Gen. Stuart, who, until then, had 
been retiring before the enemy towards New-Baltimore, faced 
around and charged. At tlie same moment Fitzhugh Lee came 
up on the enemy's flank, and what was called the " Buckland 
Races" took place, Kilpatrick and his dispersed command fly- 
ing for their lives. To add to the misery of the fugitive General, 
he lost his race-horse " Lively," a thorough-bred mare, which 
flew the track on this occasion, and became the prize of some of 
Mosby's men. 

The perils to his person which Gen. Stuart encountered in a 
long series of adventures were suflicient to give one of less imagi- 
nation a certain idea of immunity from danger, and he was 
heard frequently to say he was afraid of no bullet " aimed at 
him." His hairbreadth escapes were numerous and remarkable. 
His clothing had been frequently cut by bullets in various bat- 
tles, and one of his stafi'-officers gives an amusing account of 
Stuart's extreme distress at the loss of half of his magnificent 
moustache, which on one occasion, in a spattering fire in the 
woods, a minie ball had clipped off as neatly as the scissors 
of a barber. But at last came the fatal bullet, the winged mes- 
senger of Death. 

Is was in the early days of the memorable May of 1864, when 
the two great armies were locked in deadly struggle on the lines 
of Northern Virginia, that Richmond was thrown into a state of 
especial and immediate alarm by the rapid advance against it of 
the Federal cavalry under Gen. Sheridan, who had managed to 
march around the Confederate lines. The indefatigable Stuart, 
however, had followed in track of the enemy ; and while the 
people of Richmond momentarily expected that the outer lines 
of the city fortifications would become the scene of desperate 
conflict, the sound of light guns was heard, and the following 
cheerful, characteristic dispatch, told of Stuart's whereabouts and 
reassured the alarmed capital : 



LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUART. 437 

Headquarters, Abhland, May 11, 1864, 6.30 a. m. 
To Gen. Bragg : 

General, — The enemy reached this point just before us, but 
were promptly whipped out, after a sharp fight, by Fitz Lee's 
advance, killing and capturing quite a number. Gen. Gordon is 
in the rear of the enemy. I intersect the road the enemy is 
marching on at Yellow Tavern, the head of the turnpike, six 
miles from Richmond. My men and horses are tired, hungry, 
and jaded, but all right. J. E. B. Stuakt. 

The next day the prostrate, bleeding form of the commander 
was brought into Richmond, and the glad city subdued to tears 
as her brave defender died in the midst of the people who loved 
and honoured him. For six hours he had fought the enemy with 
1,100 men, and completed at Yellow Tavern the defeat of Sheri- 
dan's eight thousand. In the ardour of pursuit he had become 
separated from his men, discharging his revolver at some dis- 
mounted Federal cavalry who were running away on the oppo- 
site side of a high fence ; and he had just fired his last shot when 
one of the fugitives turned upon him, and, steadying his aim by 
the fence, gave him a ball in the stomach that traversed the 
whole body. Thinking himself mortally wounded, Gen. Stuart 
turned his horse, rode back half a mile to the rear, and fell ex- 
hausted from the loss of blood. He was taken in an ambulance 
to Richmond, and died there the next day. 

The last moments of the illustrious warriour were of touch- 
ing and noble interest. Beneath the gay manners of the cava- 
lier, and in the secret chambers of his soul, there was a deep, 
abiding religious sentiment, which now shone forth, illuminating 
the hero's character, and giving dignity to the last moments of 
life. He repeatedly asked that the hymns of the Church should 
be repeated to him. He was neither afraid nor loth to die ; and 
when President Davis, approaching his bedside, and taking his 
hand, asked, "General, how do you feel?" he replied: "Easy, 
but willing to die, if God and my country think I have fulfilled 
my destiny and done my duty." As night approached, he asked 
his physician if he thought he would live through it ; and being 
told that death was rapidly approaching, he nodded, and said : 
" I am resigned, if it be God's will ; but I should like to see my 



438 LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUART. 

wife. But God's will be done." The unfortunate ladj was in 
the country at the time. He then made his last dispositions, and 
calmlj' took leave of all around him. He directed that his golden 
spurs, the gift of some ladies of Baltimore, should be given to 
Mrs. Gen. R. E. Lee, as a memento of love and esteem for her hus- 
band. To his staff-officers he gave his horses and other memen- 
toes. To his young son he left his sword. He finally prayed with 
the minister and friends around him ; and, with the words, " I 
am going fast now ; I am resigned ; God's will be done," yielded 
his fleeting spirit to Him. who gave it. 

The still form of the hero was laid in a simple grave on the 
hill-side in Hollywood cemetery, in the midst of the roaring of 
the enemy's cannon at Drury's Bluff; and Mdiile the sound of 
battle smote the ears of the funeral cortege, men thought pain- 
fully that the voice which had so often startled the enemy with 
stirring battle-cry, was silent forever. Near the grave a short 
slight mound of earth told where rested a little daughter that 
had been the idol of the soldier's heart.* 

The military character of Gen. Stuart may be briefly summed 

* Heros von Borcke, a Prussian officer on Gen. Stuart's staff, in some interesting 
memoirs of the commander, thus relates how the strong man was moved by the 
death of the little daughter by whose grave he now slept, war's fitful fever over, and 
its glory laid in the dust: 

"During the night of the 5th November, 1862, there came a telegram for Gen. 
Stuart, which, in accordance with his instructions, habitually observed by me, I 
opened with his other dispatches, and found to contain the most painful intelligence. 
It announced the death of little Flora, our chief's lovely and dearly-loved daughter, 
five years of age, the favourite of her father and of his military family. This sweet 
child had been dangerously ill for some time, and more than once had Mrs. Stuart 
summoned her husband to Flora's bedside; but she received only the response of the 
true soldier: 'My duty to the country must be performed before I can give way to 
the feelings of the father.' I went at once to acquaint my General with the terrible 
tidings, and when I had awakened him, perceiving, from the grave expression of my 
features, that something had gone wrong, he said, 'What is it. Major? Are the 
Yankees advancing ? ' I handed him the telegram without a word. He read it, and 
the tenderness of the father's heart overcoming the firmness of the warriour, he 
threw his arms around my neck and wept bitter tears upon my breast. My dear 
General never recovered from this cruel blow. Many a time afterwards, during our 
rides together, he would speak to me of his lost child. Light-blue flowers recalled 
her eyes to him ; in the glancing sunbeams he caught the golden tinge of her hair ; 
and whenever he saw a child with such eyes and hair, he could not help tenderly em- 
bracing it. He thought of her even on his death-bed, when, drawing me towards 
him, he whispered, ' My dear friend, I shall soon be with little Flora again.' ' 



LIEUT.-GEN. J. E. B. STUART. 489 

up. He was the model of au excellent soldier, but deficient as 
an officer. He was splendid in action ; he had a magnetic pres- 
ence and a superb personal gallantry. But he knew but little 
of the art of war. There was much in his conduct that was vol- 
atile and lacked of sufficient seriousness. His character, indeed, 
is exceptional in balancing a disposition so gay with the real vir- 
tues of the man, and in presenting in manners so ligiit the stern 
stuff of heroic souls. The bright blue eye that could beam with 
laughter looked into the very face of death without a quiver of 
the lid. Ambitious, fond of glorj^, and sensitive to blame or 
praise, he was yet endowed with a bold and independent spirit 
which enabled him to defy all enemies. Light-hearted from his 
very indifference to danger, he has been likened to some cheva- 
lier of olden days, riding to battle with his lady's glove upon 
his helm, humming a song, and determined to conquer or fall. 
No braver spirit, no simpler heart, ever expired in liberty's cause. 



LIEUT.-GEK AMBROSE P. HILL 



CHAPTER XXXYIII. 

His record in the United States Army. — ffis part in the battles around Richmond, 
1862. — Conspicuous gallantry at Frazier's Farm. — He repulses six assaults in the 
second battle of Manassas. — Critical service at Sharpsburg. — Episode of Boteler'a 
Ford. — Bristoe Station. — Failure of General Hill's health. — He resumes command 
in front of Petersburg. — Reams' Station. — Tragic death of the Commander. — His 
virtues and gallantry. 

Ambrose P. Hill was a native of Yirginia, born in the county 
of Culpeper, on the 9th November, 1825. His father, Major 
Hill, was a leading politician and merchant of that county. In 
the year 1843, young Hill entered West Point as a cadet, and 
graduated on the 3d June, 1847, in the same class with Gen. 
Burnside. On the 1st July he was brevetted second-lieutenant 
of the First Artillery, and on the 22d August was made full 
second-lieutenant. On the 4th September, 1851, he was pro- 
moted first-lieutenant of the First Artillery, and afterwards to a 
captaincy. 

A. P. Hill had sought the education of a soldier with a fixed 
determination. He had made arms not only his profession, but 
an enthusiastic study, to which he was prompted by the natural 
tastes and dispositions of his mind. 

Upon the breaking out of the war between the North and 
South, he was chosen Colonel of the Thirteenth Yirginia Regi- 
ment ; and at the first battle of Manassas, it will be recollected, 
this regiment, with the remainder of Gen. Johnston's command, 
arrived on the field just in time to secure and complete the great 
victory of that memorable day. 

At the battle of Williamsburg, Gen. Hill had risen to the 



LIEUT.-GEN". AMBROSE P. HILL. 441 

rank of Brigadier-General ; and in that fight he exhibited an 
extraordinary spirit and energy, which were recognized by all 
who observed his behaviour on that field, and drew the eyes of 
the public upon him. 

But he made his greatest reputation by his conspicuous part 
in the seven days' battles around Richmond, in the summer of 
1862. Having then been made Major-General, he occupied, with 
his division, the extreme left of the Confederate position in the 
neighbourhood of Meadow Bridge. He was put in command of 
one of the largest divisions of the Army of Richmond, his 
division being composed of the brigades of Anderson, Branch, 
Pender, Gregg, Field, and Archer. He rapid Ij'- brought his 
division to perfection in organization. It was made his duty to 
cross at Meadow Brigde, and malce the first attack upon McClel- 
lan's forces. He performed this duty alone, witliout waiting for 
other movements; and, unassisted by a portion of his command, 
(for Gens. Branch and Gregg did not come up until late in the 
evening), he sustained a terrible conflict with the enemy, encour- 
aging his troops by examples of personal audacity, which kept 
him constantly exposed to the enemy's fire. 

That position of the enemy gained, the division of Gen. Hill 
followed his subsequent movements, being placed first on the 
line of the advance, and bearing the brunt of the action to Fra- 
zier's Farm. Here occurred the memorable engagement in which 
his command, composed of his own and one division of Long- 
street, fought a largely superiour force, and achieved a success 
which broke the spirit of the enemy, and completed the circuit 
of our victories. 

In this series of battles the division of Hill lost 3,870 men, 
killed and wounded; drew the first blood at Mechanicsville ; 
fought five hours at Gaines' Mills ; travelled a circuitous route of 
forty miles ; won the field at Frazier's against the greatest odds 
of the seven days' conflict ; took fourteen pieces of artillery and. 
two stands of colours — a record of endurance and valour that at 
once made the reputation of the division, and placed the star of 
its commander in the ascendant. Of the desperate circum- 
stances in which the victory of Frazier's Farm was wrested from 
the enemy, Gen. Hill writes : " Two brigades of Longstreet's 
division had been roughly handled and had fallen back. Archer 



442 LIEUT.-GEN. AMBROSE P. HILL. 

was brought up and sent in, and, in liis shirt-sleeves leading his 
gallant brigade, affairs were soon restored in that quarter. About 
dark the enemy were pressing us hard along our whole line, and 
mj last reserve. Gen. J. R. Anderson, with his Georgia brigade, 
was directed to advance cautiously and be careful not to fire on 
our friends. His brigade was formed in line — two regiments on 
each side of the road — and, obeying my instructions to the letter, 
received the fire of the enemy at seventy paces before engaging 
them. Heavy reinforcements to the enemy were brought up at 
this time, and it seemed that a tremendous eifort was being made 
to turn the fortunes of the battle. The volume of fire that, ap- 
proaching, rolled along the line was terrific. Seeing some troops 
of Wilcox's brigade who had rallied, with the assistance of Lieut. 
Chamberlaine and other members of my stafiF, they were rapidly 
formed, and, being directed to cheer long and loudly, moved 
again to the fight. This seemed to end the contest, for in less 
than five minutes all firing ceased and the enemy retired." The 
fact was that Gen. Hill had ridden to the rear, to Wilcox's brig- 
ade — which, however, had not retired under pressure of the 
enemy, but had been placed in position by its commander, under 
Longstreet's orders — and by personal appeals, so ardent that 
tears started to his eyes, he besought them to save the day, and 
to come up to the front to make a last effort to check the advance 
of the now confident enemy. Catching the spirit of the com- 
mander, the brave but jaded men moved up to the front, reply- 
ing to the enemy's cheers with shouts and yells. At this demon- 
stration, which the enemy no doubt supposed signified heavy 
reinforcements, he stopped his advance, and surrendered the torn 
and bloody field. It was a victory narrowly won, and marked 
the last effort of McClellan to recover a position short of James 
River. 

Frazier's Farm ought, indeed, to have been the last fight 
against McClellan, and was so designed. Jackson on the ene- 
my's rear, Huger on his right flank, Longstreet and Hill in front 
of him on the Long Bridge Road, and Holmes and Magruder 
pushing him on the Malvern Hill side — such were the disposi- 
tions of Gen. Lee, They constituted a perfect plan ; they should 
have led to the capture and destruction of McClellan ; but, 
unfortunately, the only Generals up to time were Longstreet and 



LIEUT.-GEN". AMBROSE P. HILL. 443 

Hill, and what was designed as decisive proved only a partial 
field, adorned, however, with a crowning exhibition of courage 
and devotion. 

In the campaign of Northern Virginia, the division of A. P. 
Hill was sent to reinforce Stonewall Jackson, who had been dis- 
patched to check the advance of Pope. With this illustrious 
commander it continued to operate during the remainder of his 
brilliant career; and among the last words of Jackson, in the de- 
lirium of death, was the habitual phrase: "A. P. Hill, prepare 
for action ! " At the battle of Cedar Hun, Hill gallantly main- 
tained the prestige he had already won ; his division strongly 
supporting Ewell's division and making a vigourous fight. In 
the subsequent operations, he bore a conspicuous part, marching 
with Jackson on his flank movement towards the Rappahannock 
and Manassas. 

At the second battle of Manassas, he repeated something of 
the desperate drama of Frazier's Farm. In the first da}^ of the 
action, the evident intention of the enemy was to turn the Con- 
federate left and overwhelm Jackson's corps before Longstreet 
came up ; and, to accomplish this, the most persistent and furi- 
ous onsets were made, by column after column of infantry, ac- 
companied by numerous batteries of artillery. Soon Hill's re- 
serves were all in, and up to six o'clock, his division, assisted by 
the Louisiana brigade of Gen. Hays, commanded by Colonel 
Forno, with a heroic courage and obstinacy almost beyond par- 
allel, had met and repulsed six distinct and separate assaults, a 
portion of the time the majority of the men being without a 
cartridge. The reply of the gallant Gregg to a message of the 
commander is worthy of notice, "Tell Gen. Hill that my ammu- 
nition is exhausted, but that I will hold my position with the 
bayonet." The enemy prepared for a last and determined at- 
tempt. Their seried masses, overwhelming superiority of num- 
bers, and bold bearing, made the chance of victory to tremble 
in the balance ; Hill's own division, exhausted by seven hours' 
unremitted fighting, hardly one round of ammunition per man 
remaining, and weakened in all things save its unconquerable 
spirit. Casting about for help, fortunately it was here reported 
to Gen. Hill that the brigades of Gens. Lawton and Early were 
near by, and, sending for them, they promptly moved to the 



444 LIEUT.-GEN. AMBROSE P. HILL. 

front at the most opportune moment, and the last charge of the 
enemy met the same disastrous fate that had befallen those pre- 
ceding it. 

The next day (August 30, 1862,) Hill's division was again en- 
gaged, and late in the evening it was ordered by Jackson to ad- 
vance in echelon of brigades. This order was promptly carried 
out : Pender, Archei", Thomas, and Branch steadily advancing. 
These brigades held together, and drove everything before them, 
capturing two batteries, many prisoners, and resting at night on 
Bull Kun. 

At Sharpsburg we find a record of brilliant service on the 
part of A. P. Hill unsurpassed in the war. Having been delay- 
ed at the surrender of Harper's Ferry, he did not arrive upon 
the battle-field of Sharpsburg until half-past two in the afternoon, 
when he reported to Gen. Lee, and was ordered to take position 
on the right. His troops were not in a moment too soon. The 
enemy had already advanced in three lines, had broken through 
Jones' division, captured Mcintosh's battery, and were in the 
full tide of success. "With a yell of defiance. Archer charged 
them, retook Mcintosh's guns, and drove them back pell-mell. 
Branch and Gregg, with their old veterans, sternly held their 
ground, and pouring in destructive volleys, the tide of the en- 
emy surged back, and breaking in confusion, passed out of sight. 
During this attack Pender's brigade was moved from the right 
to the centre, but the enemy were driven back without actively 
engaging this brigade. The three brigades of the division ac- 
tively engaged did not number over 2,000 men, and these, with 
the help of the splendid batteries, drove back Burnside's corps 
of 15,000 men. 

After the battle of Sharpsburg, when Gen. Lee determined 
to withdraw from Maryland, Hill's division was directed to cover 
the retreat of the army ; and in the performance of this duty 
enacted one of the most terrible episodes of the war. The story 
of Boteler's Ford is one at which the imagination shudders. It 
taught the enemy the danger of pressing a retreating army ot 
veterans. On the 20th September, 1862, Lee's army was well 
across the Potomac, when it was ascertained that some brigades 
of the eneni}'- had ventured to cross during the preceding night, 
and were making preparations to hold their position. Gen. Jack- 



LIEUT.-GEN". AMBROSE P. HILL. 445 

son at once ordered A. P. Hill to take his division and drive the 
enemy back. The Federals had lined the opposite hills with 
some seventy pieces of artillery ; and the infantry, who had 
crossed, lined the crest of the high banks on the Yirginia shore. 
Hill's lines advanced simultaneously and soon encountered the 
enemy. The advance was made in the face of a tremendous iire 
of artillery. The infantry opposition in front of Gregg's centre 
and right was but trifling and soon brushed away. The enemy, 
however, massed in front of Pender, and, extending, endeavoured 
to turn his left. Gren. Pender became hotly engaged, and in- 
forming Archer of his danger, he (Archer) moved by the left 
flank, and, forming on Pender's left, a simultaneous daring charge 
was made, and the enemy driven pell-mell into the river. " Then," 
writes Gen. Hill, describing the action with graphic pen, " com- 
menced the most terrible slaughter that this war has yet wit- 
nessed. The broad surface of the Potomac was hlue with the 
floating hodies of our foe. But few escaped to tell the tale. 
By their own account they lost 3,000 men killed and drowned 
from one brigade alone ! " In this battle Gen. Hill did not use 
a piece of artillery ; but, relying on the musket and bayonet, he 
punished the enemy beyond precedent, and repaid, in one tri- 
umphant hour, all the sufi'ering and injuries of a campaign. 

The subsequent career of Gen. Hill is so merged in the gen- 
eral record of the Army of Northern Yirginia as scarcely to claim 
particular notice. In May, 1863, he was made Lieutenant-General, 
and commanded one of the three corps into which Gen. Lee's 
army was then divided. In the Pennsylvania campaign his 
was the first corps in action at Gettysburg. In Gen. Lee's flank 
movement of the same year to get between Meade and Washing- 
ton city, A. P. Hill sustained the only reverse of his career, and 
experienced his first defeat ; he having fallen upon a superiour 
force of the enemy at Bristoe Station, concealed by the railroad 
embankment, and in a vain effort to dislodge it losing several 
hundred killed and wounded, and five pieces of artillery. It is 
Baid that in the 27th North Carolina infantry, out of 464 officers 
and men who went into this battle, upwards of 300 were killed 
and wounded, in a less time than fifteen minutes. In the momen- 
tous campaign of 1864, Gen. Hill was again conspicuous, his 
corps, with that of Ewell, opening the action in the "Wilder- 



446 LIEUT.-GEN. AMBROSE P. HILL. 

ness. A few days thereafter his feeble health gave way com- 
pletely, and he was unable to remain on dnty, when Gen. Early 
was assigned to the command of his corps. It was then composed 
of Hetii's, Wilcox's and Mahone's (formerly Anderson's) divisions 
of infantry, and three battalions of artillery under Col. Walker; 
the infantry numbering about 13,000 muskets for duty. 

After the scenes of Spottsylvania Court-House, Gen. Hill re- 
ported for duty, resumed command of his corps, and fought it to 
the last day in front of Petersburg. His next important service 
of this period was the battle of Ream's Station, where, on the 25th 
August, 1864, he attacked the enemy in his intrenchments, and 
at the second assault carried his entire line. Seven stands of 
colours, 2,000 prisoners, and nine pieces of artillery were taken ; 
and the thanks of Gen. Lee were obtained for the gallant 
action. The command of Hill engaged in this assault was Cook's 
and McKea's North Carolina brigades, under Gen. Hetli, and 
Lane's North Carolina brigade of Wilcox' division, under Gen. 
Connor, with Pegram's artillery. 

In the last battle of Petersburg, Gen. A. P. Hill fell in the 
flower of his youth and at the summit of his fame, having achieved 
a name wholly identified with the Army of Northern Yirginia, 
and terminating his career with melancholy fitness in the closing 
scenes of that army's existence. He had desired to obtain a 
nearer view of a portion of the enemy's line during the attack 
of the 2d April, 1864, and leaving his staff behind in a place of 
safety, rode forward, accompanied by a single orderly, and soon 
came upon a squad of Federals, who had advanced along a 
ravine far beyond their lines. He immediately ordered them to 
surrender, which they were on the point of doing, under the sup- 
position that a column of troops were at his heels. They soon 
discovered he was nearly unattended, and shot him through the 
heart. In the following night his body was hastily buried in the 
cemetery of Petersburg ; and while the darkness was rifted with 
explosion after explosion of magazines taken up all along the 
line to Richmond, and while through pillars of fire the retreating 
army took its way into the great hollowness of the night, and 
while conflagrations and horrid sights streamed on the troubled 
air, a few men tarried around the dead form of the warriour and 
made him a grave in peaceful and consecrated ground. 



LIEUT.-GEN, AMBROSE P. HILL. 447 

Gen. Hill was of slender frame and delicate health, but of 
a handsome person and strangely fascinating manners. He had a 
quick and retentive intellect, a cordial and afiectionate disposi- 
tion, and sensibilities of rare refinement. Of his'untirino- devo- 
tion to the cause of the South, and able services in the field, it is 
unnecessary to speak. To his ceaseless care of his men, every 
veteran of his command will testify ; and to his honour be it said, 
in every position he held, the health, comfort and safety of his 
brave comrades were considered as inferiour only to the impera- 
tive call of the country. His own life was held no more sacred 
than a private's ; and at Williamsburg, where he commanded so 
ably, and won a Major-General's wreath, he twice saved, by his 
own band, an unknown private who was struggling in personal 
combat. During many campaigns, Gen. Hill was too feeble to 
continue on horseback, and was dragged from field to field, yet 
unwilling to be absent from the post of duty and danger. In the 
campaign of the last year of the war, this was the case, though 
his attending physicians were then urging his family to use their 
influence to save his services to his country, by inducing him to 
rest. But no entreaty could avail; the iron will of the brave 
man spared not his feeble frame. He had returned from a fur- 
lough coerced by his Commanding General, in the hope of re- 
cruiting his health, on Friday before the fatal Sunday on which 
he fell. In his death, the South lost a noble defender, and the 
State of Virginia not the least of her many military ornaments 
in the war. 



LIEUT.-GEN. DANIEL H. HILL 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

"Bethel " Hill a curiosity as well as celebrity of the war. — His Revolutionary ances- 
try. — Services in Mexico. — His adventures as a Professor and literaleur. — Curiosi- 
ties of "Hill's Algebra." — The affair of Bethel and its exaggeration. — Gen. Hill's 
account of McClellan's retreat from Richmond. — His most memorable and heroic ser- 
vice at South Mountain Pass. — Gen. Hill's criticism of the battle of Sharpsburg. — 
Heroic record of a North Carolina regiment. — Gen. Hill at Chickamauga. — Removed 
from command. — His literary exploits and eccentricities. 

The name of Daniel H. Hill — " Bethel " Hill, as he was some- 
times called in the camp — a native of South Carolina, but an ar- 
dent citizen of I^orth Carolina, a devoted lover of his adopted 
State, belongs to the curiosities as well as to the celebrities of the 
war. His personal eccentricities, his literary whims, and his ad- 
ventures in the English language, furnished a stock of curiosity 
and amusement in the war. He had the somewhat equivocal 
reputation of a man who "had peculiar notions"; he was fre- 
quently charged with insubordination ; but doubtful as were some 
of the parts of his military career, he was a grim and obstinate 
fighter, and on one occasion, as we shall see, he was engaged in 
one of the most brilliant and critical actions of the war, which 
saved the campaign in Maryland, made his reputation, and enti- 
tled him to at least one conspicuous record in history. Whatever 
the adverse criticism or unpleasant remark that may be made 
upon the commander, the splendid service is not to be forgotten, 
when he held McClellan's whole army in check at South Moun- 
tain Pass, covered the capture of Harper's Ferry, and saved Gen. 
Lee's army from an attack that would have divided it, and per- 
haps have destroyed it in detail. 



LIEUT.-GEN. DANIEL H. HILL. 449 

D. II. Hill was born about the year 1820, in York District, 
South Carolina, at a place called Hill's Iron Works, owned by 
Hill & Hayne — the latter of whom was brother of the revolu- 
tionary hero of Charleston fame. The British troops burned 
these works in a spirit of revenge, especially on account of the 
active participation in the Revolutionary war of the grandfather 
of the subject of our sketch, who was then a rebel colonel, and, 
besides other titles to fame, obtained the credit of having plan- 
ned the famous battle of King's Mountain. D. H. Hill was the 
youngest of six sons. All of them obtained distinction in differ- 
ent careers, and furnish an uncommon example of social and 
professional success in an entire family. Graduating at West 
Point with honour, in 1842, D. H. Hill entered the United States 
Army, and remained in it until after the close of the Mexican 
War. He was brevetted captain for gallant and meritorious con- 
duct in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco. He afterwards 
obtained another brevet, that of major, at the storming of Cha- 
pultepec ; and here it is recorded of him that he was the second 
man on the American side that mounted the ramparts. In 1849 
he resigned his position in the army to accept a professorship in 
Washington College, Virginia, where he filled for six years the 
chair of Mathematics and Military Tactics, a place honoured by 
the special endowment of George Washington, and called the 
" Cincinnati Chair." His fiiiling health compelled a change of 
climate, and he accepted a professorship in Davidson College, 
North Carolina, where he continued several years. He left this 
position to become the President of the Xorth Carolina Military 
Institute, located at Charlotte ; and from this flourishing school 
was culled much of the generous youth that perished in the war. 

The associations of Professor Hill at Washington College, 
"Virginia, was the occasion of his advice being sought by the vis- 
itors of the adjoining Military Institute in filling the vacancy of 
one of the chairs of that school ; and he strongly recommended 
" Stonewall" Jackson, and probably his influence secured his ap- 
pointment over the claims of several more pretentious and per- 
sistent candidates. The relations of these two men were very 
affectionate and honourable. Their attachment commenced at 
West Point ; they served together in Mexico in many and varied 
scenes of danger ; they were brothers in feeling and affection long 

29 



4:50 LIEUT.-GEN. DANIEL H. HILL. 

before they married sisters, and contracted in reality a fraternal 
tie. They both married daughters of Rev. Dr. Morrison, son of 
a Revohitionary patriot, and himself one of the most gifted, ac- 
complished, and talented men North Carolina ever produced. 

Before winning historic renown in the recent war, D. H. Hill 
liad some adventures as a literary author, and gave evidence that 
he luid not devoted all his time and talents to military science. 
He was the author of two theological works — " The Sermon on 
the Mount," and " The Crucifixion." These works were pub- 
lished, six or seven years ago, by the Presbyterian Board of Pub- 
lication, and were well received in the Christian literary world. 
The character of the man was, however, better displayed, and 
his strong eccentricities cropped out in an attempt at some ele- 
mentary educational works, " a Southern Series." In his design 
of instruction for the youth of Davidson College, an element of 
Yankee-phobia was curiouslj^ incorporated, and lessons of "South- 
ern spirit " taught with a remarkable ingenuit}^. One would 
think it rather difficult to give mathematical instruction such a 
form as to imbue pupils with contempt and hatred for the North. 
But Bill attempted the work, and produced some curiosities of 
arithmetic not to be found in the ordinary text-books. He framed 
problems beginning in the following style : 

" A Yankee mixes a certain quantity of wooden nutmegs, 
which cost him one-fourth cent apiece, with a quantity of real 
nutmegs, worth four cents apiece," etc. 

" A Northern railroad is assessed $120,000 damages for con- 
tusions and broken limbs caused by a collision of cars." 

"The years in which the Governors of Massachusetts and 
Connecticut send treasonable messages to their respective legis- 
latures, is expressed by four digits." 

"The field of battle of Buena Vista is six and a half miles 
from Saltillo. Two Indiana volunteers ran away from the field 
of battle at the same time, &c. &;c. 

Hill commenced his career in the war as Colonel of the First 
North Carolina Regiment, and fought his first action at Big 
Bethel, which was magnified into a great aflfair by the newspa- 
pers, taken as a test of " relative manhood," and treated as a 
considerable victory, until larger actions of the Avar displaced it 
in public attention, and put it almost out of the memory of men. 



LIEUT.-GEN. DANIEL H. HILL. 451 

The action, indeed, was of no significance. It is amusing, in the 
light of subsequent events, to read the grandiose official report 
of this action, in which, on the side of the Confederates, " one 
man and a mule were killed," and the two forces were never in 
contact, and to note the expressions of repulsing " desperate as- 
saults," and pursuing " till the retreat became a rout," &c., when 
the fact was the Confederates, after the action, retired from the 
ground, and were satisfied to have checked Butler's column by 
their batteries. But the extravagant laudation of this affair took 
place when the whole country was in the fever of high expecta- 
tions, and inclined to catch at any passing event as the true com- 
mencement of the great procession of hostilities ; and the Con- 
federate commander at Bethel undoubtedly felt the influence of 
the excitement, and may be pardoned somewhat for writing un- 
der its inspiration. 

In the battles around Eichmond, Hill, now promoted a Ma- 
jor-General, made a bloodier record, and lost 3,955 men. In 
these battles he was temporarily joined with Stonewall Jackson, 
and suffered greatly at Malvern Hill, where he attacked prema- 
turely, and without the supports he had expected. In his quaint, 
and sometimes strong language, he wrote in his official report: 
"The Yankees retreated in the night, leaving their dead unburied, 
their wounded on the ground, three pieces of artillery aban- 
doned, and thousands of superiour rifles thrown away. The 
wheat-fields at Shirley were all trampled down by the frightened 
herd. Numerous wagons and ambulances were found stuck in 
the mud, typical of Yankee ^progress in the war^ The seven 
days' battles he declared had " resulted in lifting the Young ISTa- 
poleon from his intrenchments around the city, and setting him 
down on the banks of the James River, twenty-five miles fur- 
ther off." 

The most memorable service of Gen. Hill, to which we have al- 
ready referred, occurred in the Maryland campaign, and is written 
in inefl'aceable characters of glory. He had been left at Petersburg 
when Gen. Lee moved into Northern Virginia, and joined the 
main army at Chantilly, a few days after the battles of second 
Manassas, when he was given command of McLaws' division and 
three brigades of his own division. In the movement into Mary- 
land, when Jackson was diverted to the capture of Harper's Ferry, 



452 LIEUT.-GEN. DANIEL H. HILL. 

Hill was ordered to guard the pass in the Blue Kidge, near Boone- 
boro. On the 14th September, 1862, it was discovered that 
McClellan was attempting tliis pass with the bulk of his army, and 
Gen. Lee at once directed the larger portion of Longstreet's force 
to proceed to the scene of action. But before this reinforcement 
arrived, D. H. Hill had to bear the brunt of the enemy's attack, 
and for five hours he held his ground and clung to the critical 
position against odds which had not yet occurred in the war. It 
was perhaps well for him that McClellan and his subordinates 
were unaware of the small force which presented so bold a front. 
Franklin pressed forward on the left, Reno in the centre, and 
Hooker on the right; whilst the two corps under Sumner's com- 
mand were moved up in support. The main brunt of the action 
fell on Franklin and Reno, but the battle was fought in a great 
measure with artillery, and took place under the eyes of Gens. 
McClellan and Burnside, who were in rear of the centre column. 
About three o'clock in the afternoon Longstreet reached the 
ground and threw his jaded troops into the action. It continued 
until nightfall, neither side obtaining any advantage. But Hill 
had accomplished all that was required — the delay of McClellan's 
army until Harper's Ferry could not be relieved. The position had 
been held until Jackson had completed the capture of this place ; 
and as the Federals prepared to renew the attack on the follow- 
ing morning, they were disconcerted by the cessation of firing in 
that direction, proclaiming, as they well knew, the surrender of 
the place. 

The battle of South Mountain, as far as the division of D. H. 
Hill is concerned, must be regarded as one of the most remarka- 
ble and creditable of the war. The division had marched all the 
way from Richmond, and the straggling had been enormous, in 
consequence of heavy marches, deficient commissariat, want of 
shoes, and inefficient officers. Owing to these causes, the divi- 
sion numbered less than five thousand men on the morning of the 
14th September, and had five roads to guard, extending over a 
space of as many miles. This small force successfully resisted, 
without support, for five or six hours, the whole of McClellan's 
army, and when its supports were beaten, still held the roads, so 
that retreat was efi'ected without the loss of a gun, a wagon, or an 
ambulance. During the night Hill retired towards Sharpsburg, 



LIEUT.-GEN. DANIEL H. HILL. 453 

where Gen. Lee was collecting his forces and putting them in 
line for a decisive battle.* 

Of the battle of Sliarpsburg, Gen. D. H. Hill has made a 
caustic criticism. He says : " It was a success, so far as the fail- 
ure of the Yankees to carry the position they assailed. It would, 
however, have been a glorious victory for us, but for three causes. 
1. The separation of our forces. Had McLaws and R. H. An- 
derson been there earlier in the morning the battle would not 
have lasted two hours, and would have been signally disastrous 
to the Yankees. 2. The bad handling of our artillery. Tliis 
could not cope with the superior weight, calibre, range, and number 
of the Yankee guns. Hence it ought only to have been used 
against masses of infantr3\ On the contrary, our guns were made 
to reply to the Yankee guns, and were smashed up or withdrawn 
before they could be effectually turned against massive columns of 
attack. An artillery duel between the Washington artillery and 
the Yankee batteries across the Antietam, on the 16th, was the 
most melancholy farce in the war. 3. The enormous straggling. 
The battle was fought with less than thirty thousand men. Had 
all our stragglers been up, McClellan's army would have been 
crushed or annihilated. Doubtless the want of shoes, want of 
food and physical exhaustion had kept many brave men from be- 
ing with the army. But thousands of thieving poltroons had 
kept away from sheer cowardice. The straggler is generally a 
thief and always a coward, lost to all sense of shame ; he can 
only be kept in the ranks by a strict and sanguinary discipline." 

To the behaviour of one of his E'orth Carolina regiments — the 
Fourth — Gen. Hill paid an extraordinary tribute. He said : "This 
gallant regiment, which has never been surpassed by any troops 

* And yet in this action, so shameful to McCIellan, that commander had the hardi- 
hood to claim a victory, and to dispatch to Washington the following absurd stuff: 

Head-Quartees op the Akmy of the Potomac, Sept. 15, 1862, 8 a.m. 
To Henry W. Halhclc, Commander-in- Chief : 

I have just learned from General Hooker, in the advance, who states that the in- 
formation is perfectly reliable, that the enemy is making for the river in a perfect 
panic; and General Lee stated last night, publicly, that he must admit they had been 
shockingly whipped. I am hurrying everything forward to press their retreat to the 
utmost. 

George B. McClellan. 



454 LIEUT.-GEN. DANIEL H. HILL. 

in the world, for gallantry, subordination and propriety, was com 
manded by the heroic Captain Marsh, and, after his fall, by the 
equally heroic Captain Latham, who shared the same fate. All 
the officers of this noble regiment, present at Sharpsburg, were 
killed or wounded." 

In July, 1863, D. H. Hill was made a Lieutenant-General ; 
but his promotion was shortly followed by a fall from executive 
favour that practically terminated his military career. In the 
fore-part of this year he had been operating with Longstreet in 
South Virginia, and for some time held the defences of Richmond; 
and thence he was sent to reinforce Bragg in the "West, and to 
take an unfortunate part in the battle of Cliickamauga, where the 
division of Cleburne and that of Breckinridge, having come up 
from the Mississippi, was assigned to his corps. In this action 
Hill was charged by Gen. Bragg with a contumacious disobedi- 
ence of orders; he refusing to attack, in conjunction Math Hind- 
man, a corps of the enemy at the foot of one of the gaps of the 
mountains, which the Commanding General had designated for 
destruction, and again delaying to open the battle under Polk as 
wing commander. On the subject of these charges there has 
been much recrimination, and no little confusion in the statement 
of the facts. Of his failure to come to time in the second day's 
battle, Gen. Hill makes the following explanation in his offi- 
cial report : " About midnight, Lieut.-Col. Anderson, Adjt.-Gen,, 
reported that m}' corps had been placed under command of Lieut.- 
Gen. Polk, as wing commander, and that the General wished to 
see mo that night at Alexander's Bridge (three miles distant.) I 
was much exhausted, having been in the saddle from dawn to 
midnight, and resolved to rest till three o'clock. At that hour I 
went to Alexander's Bridge, but failing to find the courier whom 
Gen. Polk had placed there to conduct me to his tent, I rode for- 
ward to the line of battle, which I reached a little after day- 
light on the 20th. Gen. Breckinridge had not yet got into posi- 
tion, as Gen. Polk had permitted him to rest the night before on 
account of the wearied condition of the men. Repeated and 
urgent orders had been issued from the corps headquarters, in 
regard to keeping rations for three days constantly on hand. But 
owing to difficulties, and possibly to want of attention, some of 
the men had been without food the day before, and a division 



LIEUT.-GEN. DANIEL H. HILL. 455 

had its rations for that day unissued, but cooked and on hand. 
Orders were given for their prompt issue. 

" At T.25 A, M., an order was shown me, just received from 
Lieut.-Gen. Polk and addressed to my division commanders, and 
directing them to advance at once upon the enemy. The reason 
given for tlie issue of the order directly to them was that he (Gen. 
Polk) had not been able to find the corps commander. I imme- 
diately replied to the note, sa^nng that Brig.-Gen. Jackson's brig- 
ade, of his corps, was at right angles to my line, that my men 
were getting their i-ations, and that the}'' could finish eating 
while we were adjusting the line of battle. Gen. Polk soon after 
came on the field, and made no objection to this delay." 

The merits of the controversy which cost Gen. Hill his com- 
mand we do not propose to determine, although we think we may 
safely risk tlie general remark that the penalty of relief from his 
command was out of proportion to his offence. His past record 
entitled him to consideration ; he had fought hard and done mer- 
itorious service ; and it must have been exceedingly painful to 
find himself reduced to a figure commanding State and local 
forces, and utterly lost to public attention in the last periods of 
the war. 

The literary exploits of Gen. Hill made him curiously noticed 
in the war, and we cannot fail to observe a hunt after rude and 
shallow eccentricities. In his ofiicial reports he carefully es- 
chewed the ordinary style of such documents, and worried the 
War Department with conceits and puns to which they were lit- 
tle used in the literature of the war. The enemy he ofiicially 
designated as " Yankees," sometimes " infernal Yankees," occa- 
sionally "the pirates and scoundrels." Of an attempt of the 
Yankees to cross the river at Fredericksburg (1862), he wrote to 
the War Department: " Finding the fire too hot for them, they 
fled back to town, where they were sheltered from Carter's fire. 
Hardaway continued to pelt them ; and to stop his fire (as is sup- 
posed) the ruffians commenced shelling the town, full of women 
and children. The town was partially destroyed, but a merciful 
God kindly protected the inoffensive inhabitants. A dog was 
killed and a negro wounded^' no other living being was injured. 
Finding that Hardaway's fire did not slacken, the pirates fled 
down the river. From Yankee sources we learned that the 



456 LIEUT.-GEN. DANIEL H. HILL. 

pirates lost six killed and twenty wounded. "Whetlier tliej over 
estimated or under-estimated their loss I do not know. Tkey 
sometimes lie on one side, and sometimes on another.''^ Occa- 
sionally a pun was employed to put the enemy to ridicule — such 
as would have caused Dr. Johnson to button up his pockets in a 
hurry, and doubtless were but little relished by the severe and 
ascetic Mr. Seddon, the Secretary of War. When he held Rich- 
mond against some demonstrations of Gen. Dix on the Penin- 
sula, he once dispatched to the War Department that the ene- 
my's " Army of the Pamunkey," or " the Monkey Army^"* was 
retiring. In another official correspondence he recommended 
that engineers be put to work, with orders to leave their " kid 
gloves behind." At other times the literary affectation of Gen. 
Hill broke out into strangely coined words — a jargon that had no 
place in the dictionaries. Stonewall Jackson was described as 
having a good deal of " outcome " in him ; musicians were denied 
furloughs on tlie ground that " fighters were to be preferred to 
footers \ " and on one occasion the unclean conceit was expressed 
that soldiers should be allowed to go home for short periods and 
visit the women of the country for fear that " the stay-at-homes " 
would propagate a race of cowards ! 

These literary crudities and conceits are coarse and unpleas- 
ant enono-h. It is to be wished that such faults were brushed 
from a character which is said to contain much ingrained good, 
a real and hearty benevolence, which, backed by and attesting 
the manhood of North Carolina, achieved a Thermopylae in the 
war, which had no small claim on the gratitude of the South, 
and asserted a place in tender and proud memories of the lost 
cause. 

On the return of peace Gen. Hill betook himself to literary 
pursuits, and has since edited at Charlotte, in North Carolina, a 
magazine, designated, by a singular figure of rhetoric, " The Land 
We LoveP In person the General is about the medium height 
and well proportioned. He has dark eyes and liair, which is be- 
coming slightly tinged with gray. He has a serious military 
bearing, and carried through the war the reputation of a very 
rigid disciplinarian. 



LIEUT.-GEN. EICHARD S. EWELL 



CHAPTER XL. 



Gen, Ewell as the companion and friend of Stonewall Jackson. — His military life an- 
teriour to 1861. — Curious apparition at Fairfax Court-House. — His share in Jack- 
son's Valley campaign.— Cross Keys. — Port Republic. — Compliment to "the Mary- 
land Line." — Gen. Ewell wounded at Groveton. — He succeeds to Stonewall Jack- 
son's command. — Enacts part of the old drama at Winchester. — Services in 1864. — 
He commands the Department of Henrico. — Burning of the city of Richmond. 

The companion-in-arms and trusted friend of Stonewall Jack- 
son ; the successor to the command of the dead hero, leading it 
from Chancellorsville to other brilliant fields of service; the 
maimed and worn hero of memorable battles, Richard S. Ewell, 
was one of the galaxy of stars that illuminated the history of Lee's 
army ; one of that extraordinary company of Virginians who wi-ote 
their names and that of their State high in the most glorious records 
of the war. 

In 1836 Ewell entered the Military Academy at West Point, 
and graduated on the 30th June, 1840, receiving an appointment 
as brevet second-lieutenant of cavalry on the 1st July. On the 
10th September, 1845, he was made first-lieutenant, and with that 
rank went into the Mexican war, serving in Col. Mason's dragoons, 
and obtained promotion to a captaincy for gallant conduct at Con- 
treras and Cherubusco. He afterwards served in New Mexico. 
"When the State of Virginia seceded, he returned there, and offered 
his sword to the Confederate cause. / A brother, one of the most 
amiable and intelligent scholars of the South, the honoured Presi- 
dent of William and Mary College, and a classmate, we believe, 
of Gen. Lee at West Point, also assumed the military office, and 
saw some of the hardest service of the war on the staff" of Gen. 
Johnston. 



/ /aX-tT 



458 LIEUT.-GEN. RICHARD S, EWELL. 

The first appearance of Kichard S. Ewell in the war occurred 
in a surprise bj the enemy of Fairfax Court-IIouse, a village eigh- 
teen miles from Washington, and was attended by some ludicrous 
circumstances. In the night of the 31st May, 1861, a body of 
Federal cavalry dashed into the village and surprised the Warren- 
ton Eifles there, who, badly armed, and with rifles without bay- 
onets, had to encounter United States regulars, armed M'ith sabres, 
carbines, and revolvers. The enemy galloped through the streets, 
and fired at the quarters of the troops, a random shot killing Capt. 
Marr, as he was selecting ground on which to form his troops. 
The darkness of the night added to the confusion, which was at its 
height, when a figure, only partly dressed, dashed forward, placing 
himself at the head of forty-three members of the Warrenton Rifles, 
who were already drawn up to receive the enemy. Having de- 
ployed the men behind a fence, he advanced towards the Federal 
cavalry, who were galloping back and firing right and left in the 
darkness. In a moment they were called upon to "Halt ! " by the 
new leader of the Confederates, who was, in fact, none other than 
Colonel, afterwards Lieutenant-General Ewell. He had rushed 
from his bed without stopping to complete his attire ; but, in the 
blackness of the night, his white shirt proved a sure mark. A ball 
wounded him in the shoulder, and disabled him ; when Ex-Gover- 
nor Smith ("Extra Billy"), who was also accidentally in the vil- 
lage, took the command and completed the discomfiture of the 
enem}^, who fled by a cross-road to Alexandria. 

At Manassas, 1861, Ewell commanded a brigade, which, how- 
ever, was not actively engaged in that first important conflict of 
arms. His eflicieiit and distinguished service commenced when he 
was sent to reinforce Jackson in the Yalley of the Shenandoah; 
and to this campaign he made a most important contribution, 
fairly dividing its honours with his superiour. At Cross Keys, 
with Elzey's, Trimble's and Stewart's brigades — Taylor's brigade 
having been ordered to Port Republic — short of five thousand 
men, he engaged Fremont's army ; and unaided by Jackson's pres- 
ence, without any support whatever from him, and with the pos- 
sibility of retreat barred by a river in his rear, he fought a most 
difficult battle, and achieved the twin decisive victory of the cam- 
paign. The general features of the ground on which he fought 
were a valley and rivulet in his front, woods on both flanks, and 



LIEUT.-GElSr. RICHARD S. EWELL. 459 

a field of some hundreds of acres where the road crossed the centre 
of his line. In this well-selected position he repulsed the enemy 
with signal loss, and broke the combination to intercept Jackson's 
retreat. At the close of the action, the order of march of Gen. 
Fremont was found on a staff-officer who had been taken prisoner. 
It showed seven brigades of infantry, besides numerous cavalry. 
Ewell had had only three small brigades during the greater part 
of the action, and no cavalry at any time.* 

At Port Eepublic Gen. Jackson finally carried the day by 
taking a commanding position crowned by the enemy's artillery ; 
but previous to this assault there had been a crisis in which the 
enemy had nearly pierced the centre of Jackson's feeble line, and 
the timely arrival of Ewell made a saving diversion, his impetuous 
advance and fierce action recovering the field when it was to all 
appearances lost. "When Gen. Ewell, crossing the South Eiver, 
hurried to the front, he found Winder forced back, and two brig- 
ades of the enemy advancing through the Confederate centre. 
He at once launched against the flank of the attacking column two 
regiments— the 44th and 58th Virginia— and poured in a galling 
fire, driving the enemy back for the first time that day, and en- 
abling Winder's scattered infantry to reform, while the batteries 
of Chew, Brockenborough, Courtenay and Eains reinstated the 
battle. 

These services of Ewell in the Valley campaign were of the 
last importance, and it is easily seen how much Gen. Jackson was 
indebted to them, especially in the extrication of his army. In 
his official account of the campaign. Gen. Ewell makes a generous 

* Mr. John Eston Cooke, in one of his admirable sketches of the war, thus writes 
of " Cross Keys " and its hero. 

" It was one of tlie ' neatest ' fights of the war. It may he said of the soldier who 
commanded the Southerners there that he thought that ' war meant fight, and that 
fight meant IdlV He threw forward his right, drove the enemy half a mile, 
brought up his left, was about to push forward, when, just at nightfall, Jackson 
sent him an order to withdraw, with the main body of his command, to Port Re- 
public. 

"Ewell obeyed, and put his column m motion, leaving only a small force to ob- 
serve the enemy. He was the last to leave the field, and was seen helping the 
wounded to mount upon horseback. To those too badly hurt to be moved from the 
ground, he gave money for their necessities out of his own pocket. 

" Health to you. General 1 wherever you may be. A heart of steel beat in your 
breast in old days, but at Cross Keys the groans of the wounded melted it." 



460 LIEUT.-GEN. EICHARD S. EWELL. 

remark, which should not be omitted here, as it contains a tribute 
to the Maryland soldiers in his command, who, there is reason to 
believe, never obtained their just dues of praise in the war. It is 
undeniable that they were often grudgingly mentioned by the 
officers from other States who commanded these noble expatriated 
men, who, defeated and embarrassed in the organization of a 
" Maryland Line," and mixed in other commands, had but little 
opportunity to illustrate the gallantry of their State. Gen. Ewell 
said : " The history of the Maryland regiment, gallantly com- 
manded by Colonel Bradley T. Johnson during the campaign of 
the Yalley, would be the history of every action from Front 
Eoyal to Cross Keys. On the 6th June, 1862, near Harrisonburg, 
the 58th Virginia regiment was engaged with the Pennsylvania 
"Bucktails," the fighting being close and bloody. Colonel John- 
son came up with his regiment in the hottest period of the affair, 
and, by a dashing charge in flank, drove the enemy off with 
heavy loss, capturing the lieutenant colonel (Kane) commanding. 
In commemoration of their gallant conduct, I ordered one of the 
captured bucktails to be appended as a trophy to their flag. The 
gallantry of the regiment on this occasion is worthy of acknowl- 
edgment from a higher source, more particularly as they avenged 
the death of the gallant Gen. Ashby, who fell at the same time. 
Two colour-bearers were shot down in succession, but each time 
the colours were caught before reaching the ground, and were 
finally borne by Corporal Shanks to the close of the action." 

At Cedar Run, Gen. Ewell was again conspicuously cooperat- 
ing with Stonewall Jackson, and won additional laurels on that 
field. He thence marched towards Manassas ; and in the battle 
of Groveton that preceded the severer conflicts on these historic 
plains, he was shot down and desperately wounded. A rifle-ball 
struck his knee, and the joint was so shattered that amputation 
was necessary to save his life. During the remainder of Jackson's 
career Ewell was unable to return to the field and fight by the 
side of the great commander who had honoured him with all of 
his confidence, and openly and officially credited him with a large 
share of the victories ascribed to himself 

On the 29th May, 1863, Ewell was able to rejoin the Army of 
Northern Virginia at Hamilton's Crossing, near Fredericksburg. 
He had been made a Lieutenant-Gcneral, and had now command 



LIEUT.-GEN. RICHARD S. EWELL. 461 

of one of the three large corps (Jackson's old corps incorporated 
with him) into which Lee's army had been divided. It was emi- 
nently fit that he should succeed to the command of his great 
guide and friend; and the presence of the maimed body of the 
determined commander strapped on his horse, or moving with 
difficulty on crutches when dismounted, was an inspiration to the 
troops, in which it was not difficult to imagine a visitation of the 
dead warriour to his former comrades. The newspapers described 
him as a re-animate Jackson, when, leading the van of Lee's army 
into Pennsylvania, he burst into the Valley of the Shenandoah, 
and reenacted part of the old drama there in capturing Winches- 
ter, and paralyzing the enemy as by an apparition from the dead. 
He had succeeded to much of Jackson's spirit in other things than 
the quickness and ardour of his strokes in battle. To the influence 
and Christian conversation of this leader Gen, Ewell is said to 
have owed, under God, his remarkable conversion from the reckless 
and profane habits of the camp to a life of great piety and close 
communion with the Church. 

In the Pennsylvania campaign, and in the hardest battles of 
1864, E well's corps was generally in advance, and always in 
conspicuous positions, making a record of honour, and identifying 
its name with the most brilliant passages of the war. In the Wil- 
derness, more than a thousand of the enemy's dead lay immediately 
in front of his lines, testifying his bloody work on that field. At 
Spottsylvania Court-House, he was posted in the Confederate cen- 
tre; and although the division of Gen. Edward Johnson was dis- 
comfited, the remainder of the corps held its ground, and covered 
its front with the enemy's slain. In Gen. Lee's retrograde from 
this position, several affairs occurred with the enemy, in one of 
which Gen. Ewell had his horse shot under him, and received a 
severe fall. He tried the next day to reach his saddle, but his 
maimed body and shattered constitution were plainly unequal to 
further tasks of the field, and he was compelled to relinquish his 
command. His last record in the war was that of commander of 
the Department of Henrico, having charge of the immediate de- 
fence of Richmond. 

In the last months of the war, the people of the city wero 
familiar with the spectacle of a worn and mutilated man looking 
prematurely old, mounted on a white horse that had often snuffed 



462 LIEUT.-GEN. KICHARD S. EWELL. 

the battle with defiance, but was now scarcely more than a halting, 
crippled skeleton. Sometimes the veteran drove through the streets 
in a dilapidated sulky. It was a sorrowful picture ; but a nearer 
view disclosed a man remarkable even in the ruin of health and 
constitution, whose gray eye was as sharp and fierce as ever, and 
whose precise conversation showed that the vigour of his mind 
was as yet untouched. His defence of the capital was never put 
to the test; but he was to the last equal to everything required 
of him. Some malicious or thoughtless accusations were, indeed, 
made that Gen. Ewell unnecessarily fired Eichmond when he was 
ordered to join Gen. Lee's final retreat ; but explanations since 
furnished showed that he acted under the imperative command of 
his superiours, without choice or discretion to save this great calam- 
ity. In the retreat towards Appomattox Court- House, he was cap- 
tured in the affair of Sailor's Creek ; and, for reasons never known, 
he was cruelly imprisoned for several months in Fort Warren. 
On his release, in August, 1865, from a confinement which was 
fast destroying what remained of his physical constitution, he re- 
moved to his wife's home in Tennessee, and has since remained 
there in studious retirement, and, it is to be hoped, in well-deserved 
and honoured ease. 




lug 4 lyH/B.HaU.NT 



ligiaved expressly £or"lee ajiii Ms Lieijienanis',' 
E.B.areat & E? Pullisiers. 654 Broadway. iJewTori. 



LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 



CHAPTER XLL 

His early life as a soldier and politician. — His " Union" sentiments in the Virginia 
Convention. — Why he became an actor in the war. — Reflections upon the 
Unionists and Secessionists. — Gen. Early's services in 1862. — The disaster of 
Rappahannock Station. — His different commands in the last year of the war. — 
His independent campaign into the VaUey and Maryland. — Outrages of the 
enemy in the Valley. — Gen. Early's advance upon "Washington City. — Why he 
did not attack it. — His return to the VaUey. — Battle of Winchester. — The dra- 
matic story of Cedar Creek. — Failure of the Valley campaign. — The affair of 
Waynesboro. — Narrow escape of Gen. Early, — Gen. Lee's letter relieving him 
from command.— Review of the operations in the Valley. — Remarkable character 
of Gen. Early. — The "bad old man." — His jokes and peculiarities- — Anecdotes 
of the camp. — Escape of Gen. Early across the Mississippi River. — His choice 
of exile. 

JuBAL A. Early is a native of Virginia, and belongs to a family 
whose names are familiar in the public records of the Common- 
wealth, and in its popular history for several generations. He re- 
ceived a military education and graduated at West Point in 1 837. 
Of the same class and above him were Gens. Bragg and Towns- 
end; and below him in the same class were Grens. D. H. Hill, 
Sedgwick, Pemberton, Hooker, and Walker (first Confederate Se- 
cretary of War). 

He was promoted second-lieutenant in the Third Artillery, 
1837; again, first-lieutenant, 1838; but in that year he resigned 
his position in the army, and appears to have abandoned the idea 
of a military career. We next find him making his residence in 
Franklin county, Virginia, and universally regarded as one of the 
ablest lawyers in the State. His profession naturally inclined him 
to politics. The family to which he belonged was always Wash- 



464 LIEUT. -GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 

ingtonian in its ideas of Federal authority. They held jacobin- 
ism and cant in detestation. They were Federalists, but fought in 
the Eevolution and war of 1812; Eepublicans, but hostile to 
democratic ideas. As Whigs, they opposed Jackson and adored 
Clay ; as Union men, they opposed secession. 

For several terms Early held a seat in the Legislature of Vir- 
ginia. In the Mexican War there occurred in his life a brief 
interlude of military service; be being appointed Major of the 1st 
Eegiment of Virginia Volunteers, and serving in Mexico from June 
7, 1847, to August 3, 1848. 

Just before the troubles between the North and South cul- 
minated in war, Virginia called a State Convention of her ablest 
men, and Jubal A. Early was elected a member of this historic as- 
sembly. There he was recognized as one of the leading and most 
obstinate Union men, and drew many censures upon his head. 
He worked and spoke and voted against the ordinance of seces- 
sion. He went so far, perhaps, as to say that he would offer no 
resistance to the Federal forces who should go to South Carolina 
to enforce the laws. When, however, Virginia spoke through the 
ballot-box, and decided to take the perils of war, this whole family, 
father and sons, rallied to her call. The old man abandoned his 
estate on the Kanawha to experience all the trials of a refugee. 
Three sons from Missouri entered the army, one or two of them 
never to return alive. Those in Virginia — one of them above the 
military age — volunteered, and with collateral relatives enough to 
have formed almost a company, they entered the army and fought 
as faitlifully through the war as any men that were in it. 

Of the change of opinion which made him one of the most de- 
termined actors of the war on the side of the South, Gen. Early 
has written an explanation, in which he declares : '' As a member 
of the Virginia Convention, I voted against the ordinance of seces- 
sion on its passage by that body, with the hope that, even then, 
the collision of arms might be avoided, and some satisfactory ad- 
justment arrived at. The adoption of that ordinance wrung from 
me bitter tears of grief; but I at once recognized my duty to abide 
the decision of my native State, and to defend her soil against 
invasion. Any scruples which I may have entertained as to the 
right of secession, were soon dispelled by the mad, wicked, and 
unconstitutional measures of the authorities at Washington, and 



LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 465 

the frenzied clamour of the people of the North for war upon 
their former brethren of the South. I tlien, and ever since have, 
regarded Abraham Lincoln, his counsellors and supporters, as the 
real traitors who had overthrown the constitution and government 
of the United States, and established in lieu thereof an odious 
despotism ; and this opinion I entered on the journal of the Con- 
vention when I signed the ordinance of secession. I recognized 
the right of resistance and revolution as exercised by our fathers 
in 1776, and without cavil as to the name by which it was called, 
I entered the military service of my State, willingly, cheerfully, 
and zealously. When the State of Virginia became one of the 
Confederate States, and her troops were turned over to the Con- 
federate Government, I embraced the cause of the whole Con- 
federacy with equal ardour, and continued in the service, with the 
determination to devote all the energy and talent I possessed to 
the common defense. I fought through the entire war without 
once regretting the course I had pursued; with an abiding faith in 
the justice of our cause ; and I never saw the moment when I 
would have been willing to consent to any compromise or settle- 
ment short of the absolute independence of my country." 

In this conversion of the early sentiment against secession into 
a fierce and bitter war upon the authorities at Washington, Gen. 
Early was not singular or exceptional. His was the case of thou- 
sands; he represented nearly the whole of his party; and he illus- 
trated what was of constant remark in the war, that the original 
Unionists, perhaps from superiour sincerity and purity of motive, 
rendered to it the most earnest and brilliant service that marked 
its annals. On the first field of Manassas, Early appeared at the 
head of a regiment. From that day until the surrender at Appo- 
mattox Court-IIouse, he never looked back. He devoted, exclu- 
sively, all his talents and energy to the success of the Confederate 
army, and rose gradually to the second rank in the Confederate 
service. 

In the campaign of 1862, extending from the Eichmond lines to 
the field of Sharpsburg, Gen. Early commanded a division whose 
exploits were illustrated by losses which he has commemorated as 
follows : " The division lost in killed, 565 ; in wounded, 2,284 ; and 
missing, seventy ; makinganagregateof 2,919— showing the severity 
of the conflicts in which it engaged. Its loss at Sharpsburg alone 

30 



46C LIEUT.-GEN, JUBAL A. EARLY. 

was 199 killed ; 1,115 wounded ; and thirty-eight missing ; being 
an aggregate loss of 1,352, out of less than 3,500, with which it went 
into that action. I hope I may be excused for referring to the rec- 
ord shown by my own brigade, which has never been broken or 
compelled to fall back, or left one of its dead to be buried by the 
enemy, but has invariably driven the enemy when opposed to him, 
and slept upon the ground on which it has fought, in every action, 
with the solitary exception of the affair at Bristoe Station, when it 
retired under orders, covering the withdrawal of the other troops." 

At Eappahannock Station, in November, 1863, Gen. Early 
lost a large portion of his command — 1,629 men of Hoke's brigade 
— by a surprise of the enemy, which cut them off on the north side 
of the river. Of this unfortunate occurrence there is to be found 
some excuse in the circumstances that the enemy was aided by a 
valley in front of the Confederates in concealing his advance from 
view, and that a very high wind effectually prevented his move- 
ments from being heard. Gen. Lee declared, with characteristic 
generosity, that " the courage and good conduct of the troops en- 
gaged had been too often tried to admit of question." 

It was Gen. Early's fortune to participate in most of the great 
military operations in which the Confederate army in Virginia was 
engaged. In the last year of the momentous struggle, he com- 
manded, at different times, a division and two corps of Gen. Lee's 
army, in the campaign from the Eapidan to James River, and sub- 
sequently a separate force, which marched into Maryland, threat- 
ened Washington City, and then went through an eventful cam- 
paign in the Valley of Virginia. This independent campaign was 
an event so principal and marked in the career of Gen. Early, so 
important a part of the great military drama of 1864 in Virginia, 
so unique in its features, and so remarkable an example of the 
odds and disadvantages against which the Confederate power strug- 
gled in the last desperate stages of its existence, as to require a dis- 
tinct and enlarged narrative. 

The campaign may be said to have commenced with the effort 
to intercept Hunter's column marching on Lynchburg, and to 
defeat Grant's combination of this force and Sheridan's cavalry in 
an ultimate operation against Richmond. 

In the early part of June, 1864, while the Second Corps 
(Ewell's) of the Army of Northern Virginia was lying near Gaines' 



LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EAELT. 467 

Mills, in rear of Hill's line at Cold Harbour, Gen. Early received 
verbal orders from Gen. Lee to hold the corps, with two of the 
battalions of artillery attached to it, in readiness to move to the 
Shenandoah Valley. Subsequently written instructions were given 
Early by Gen. Lee, by which he was directed to move, with the 
force designated, for the Yalley, by the way of Louisa Court-House 
and Charlottesville, and through Brown's or Swift Eun Gap in the 
Blue Ridge, as he might find most advisable ; to strike Hunter's 
force in the rear, and, if possible, destroy it ; then to move down 
the Yalley, cross the Potomac near Leesburg in Loudon County, or 
at or above Harper's Ferry, as he might find most practicable, and 
threaten Washington City. He was farther directed to communi- 
cate with Gen. Breckenridge, who would cooperate with him in 
the attack on Hunter and the expedition into Maryland. 

At this time the Second Corps numbered a little over 8,000 
muskets, for duty. It had been on active and arduous service in the 
field for forty days, and had been engaged in all the great battles 
from the Wilderness to Cold Harbour, sustaining very heavy losses 
at Spottsylvania Court-House, where it lost a great part of an 
entire division, including its commander, Major-General Johnson, 
who was made prisoner. Of the Brigadier-Generals with it at the 
commencement of the campaign, only one remained in command 
of his brigade. Two (Gordon and Eamseur) had been made Major- 
Generals ; one (G. H. Steuart) had been captured ; four (Pegram, 
Hays, J. A. Walker, and R. D. Johnston) had been severely 
wounded ; and four (Stafford, J. M. Jones, Daniel, and Doles) had 
been killed in action. 

With this small but veteran force Gen. Early made rapid time 
to Lynchburg, arriving there on the 17th June, luckily anticipat- 
ing Hunter's movement, and manning the defences of the city be- 
fore the enemy had made his appearance. The delay in Hunter's 
march, so fatal to his enterprise, Gen. Early attributes to the fact 
that "indulgence in petty acts of malignity and outrage upon pri- 
vate citizens was more congenial to his nature than bold operations 
in the field." He had defeated Jones' small force at Piedmont, 
about ten miles from Staunton, on the 5th, and united with Crook 
on the 8th ; yet he did not arrive in front of Lynchburg until near 
night on the 17th June. The route from Staunton to Lynchburg 
by which he moved, which was by Lexington, Buchanan, the 



468 LIEUT.-GEN". JUBAL A. EARLY. 

Peaks of Otter, and Liberty, is about one hundred miles in dis- 
tance. It is true McCausland bad delayed his progress by keepinw 
constantly in his front, but an energetic advance would have 
brushed away McCausland's small force, and Lynchburg, with all 
its manufacturing establishments and stores, would have fallen 
before assistance arrived. Subsequently, when Gen. Early passed 
over the greater part of the route pursued by the enemy towards 
Lynchburg, he found abundant evidences to verify his theory of 
the occasions of his delay. His own pen has described the atroc- 
ities which attended Hunter's march, with military bluntness and 
without any effort at rhetorical efforts. *' Houses," he writes, " had 
been burned, and helpless women and children left without shelter. 
The country had been stripped of provisions, and many families 
left without a morsel to eat. Furniture and bedding had been cut 
to pieces, and old men and women and children robbed of all the 
clothing they had except that on their backs. Ladies' trunks had 
been rifled, and their dresses torn to pieces, in mere wantonness. 
Even the negro girls had lost their little finery. We now had 
renewed evidences of the outrages committed by Hunter's orders in 
burning and plundering private houses. We saw the ruins of a 
number of houses to which the torch had been applied by his 
orders. At Lexington he had burned the Military Institute, with 
all its contents, including its library and scientific apparatus; 
and Washington College had been plundered, and the statue of 
Washington stolen. The residence of Ex-Governor Letcher at 
that place had been burned by orders, and but a few minutes 
given Mrs. Letcher and her family to leave the house. In the 
same county a most excellent Christian gentleman, a Mr. Creigh, 
had been hung, because, on a former occasion, he had killed 
a straggling and marauding Federal soldier while in the act of 
insulting and outraging the ladies of his family. These are but 
some of the outrages committed by Hunter or his orders, and I 
will not insult the memory of the ancient barbarians of the North 
by calling them ' acts of vandalism.' " 

These outrages were deplorable enough in a general sense. 
But they diverted and embarrassed Hunter's march ; they cheated 
him of the grand, important result of his enterprise ; and they se- 
cured to the Confederates the narrow chance of time that saved 
Lynchburg, with its stores, foundries and factories, so neces- 



LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 469 

sarj to the army at Richmond. Hunter did not even make an 
attack, to contest fortune or to cover defeat ; finding Lynchburg no 
easy and unresisting pre}^, as he had imagined, he resolved to re- 
treat; and in the night of the 19th June, he withdrew from the 
front of the cit}'-, directing his retreat through the mountains of 
Western Virginia, where there was no possibility of intercepting 
him, and where a stern-chase by infantry would probably be in- 
effective. This devious line of retreat opened the Shenandoah 
Valley to Early ; and now, joined by Breckinridge, he prepared for 
the second step of the campaign in the direction of Washington 
City. 

The force he collected for this high and daring enterprise con- 
isted of about 10,000 infantry, and about 2,000 mounted men 
for duty in the cavalry. Heading rapidly for the Potomac, 
by way of Lexington and Winchester, he crossed that boun- 
dary of the Confederacy, and defeating Wallace at Monocacy 
with Gordon's division, he appeared, on the 11th July, in front of 
Washington with his wearied little army. It was stated in North- 
ern newspapers that if Early had been one day sooner he would 
have entered the Federal capital almost without resistance. But 
on the 9th July he was fighting at Monocacy, thirty-five miles 
from Washington, a force which he could not leave in his rear ; 
and after disposing of that force, and moving as rapidly as pos- 
sible, he did not arrive in front of the fortifications until after noon 
of the 11th, when his troops were so exhausted that he was sure 
he could not carry more than one-third of them into action. His 
little army had been seriously diminished by rapid marching, 
which had broken down a number of the men who were bare- 
footed, or weakened by previous exposure ; and he scarcely had 
more than 8,000 muskets in front of Washington. But he had _ 
forty pieces of excellent artillery. 

In the evening a consultation of ofiicers was held. The neces- 
sity was plain of doing something immediately, as the probability 
was that the passes of the South Mountain and the fords of the 
upper Potomac would soon be closed against Gren. Early's retreat 
into Virginia. It was unanimously determined to make an assault 
on the enemy's works at daylight next morning. But during the 
night, information came that dashed all the expectations of the 
morrow ; and it was ascertained by a dispatch from Gen. Bradley 



470 LIEUT. -GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 

Johnson, from near Baltimore, that two corps had arrived from 
Grant's army to defend Washington, and were already in the works. 
The next morning "retreat" was the order; and Gen. Early was 
compelled to give up all hopes of capturing Washington, after he 
had arrived in sight of the dome of the capitol, and given the 
Federal authorities one of the most terrible frights of the war. Of 
this abandonment of the great object of the campaign, just at the 
moment when it seemed about to be attained. Gen. Early writes : 
" I had made a march, over the circuitous route by Charlottesville, 
Lynchburg, and Salem, down the Valley, and through the passes 
of the South Mountain, which, notwithstanding the delays in deal- 
ing with Hunter's, Sigel's, and Wallace's forces, is, for its length 
and rapidity, I believe without a parallel in this or any other 
modern war — the unopposed marauding excursion of the freebooter 
Sherman through Georgia not excepted. My small force had 
been thrown up to the very walls of the Federal capital, north of 
a river which could not be forded at any point within forty miles, 
and with a heavy force and the South Mountain in my rear, the 
passes through which mountain could be held by a small number 
of troops. A glance at the map, when it is recollected that the 
Potomac is a wide river, and navigable to Washington for the 
largest vessels, will cause the intelligent reader to wonder, not why 
I failed to take Washington, but why I had the audacity to ap- 
proach it as I did, with the small force under my command." 

On his return to Virginia, Gen. Early remained in the vicinity 
of Winchester. Here he established his encampment, and occu- 
pied his time and his troops in marching and countermarching ; 
in making short raids into Maryland ; in sending one avengeful 
one on horse to destroy Chambersburg ; and in puzzling and tri- 
fling with his bewildered opponent, Sheridan, Gen. Lee still enter- 
tained the idea of relieving the Richmond lines by a campaign 
in the Valley, and Kershaw's division was sent to reinforce Early ; 
but it was afterwards withdrawn, leaving the latter commander 
with not more than 8,500 muskets fit for duty, and about 1,700 
mounted men. The odds were fearful. Sheridan had at least 
10,000 of the finest cavalry that had yet been trained in the war, 
and three corps of infantry, which Gen. Early estimates at 35,000 
men. The Confederate commander led a forlorn hope against an 
army greater than that which Gen. Lee had at Richmond. The 



LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EAELY. 471 

disproportion of numbers was suggestive only of disasters ; and 
they came tliick and fast. 

The first disastrous day was the 19th September, when the 
battle of Winchester was fought. The first heavy gun was fired at 
the first dawn. From that moment until night did Early's little 
army contend with and repulse the ever-renewed and onward- 
pressing Federal hosts. The Confederate heroism of that day was 
never surpassed. It was only when the immense column of caval- 
ry came like a torrent upon the left flank and swept it away, 
that the Confederate lines were broken. At night, Gen. Early's 
army retreated through "Winchester, having left many of its sol- 
diers on the field, and nearly as many Federal dead and wounded 
as it had numbered altogether when the fight began. It was a 
dearly- bought victory for Sheridan; but for Early the disaster was 
never retrieved. 

Fisher's Hill followed, three days after — a rout without a battle. 
A month after, on the 19th October, unable to remain quiet on 
account of the failure of quartermaster and commissary stores, and 
impatient to wipe out the disgrace of the last defeats. Gen. Early 
assumed the offensive from Fisher's Hill. By an attack at daylight, 
bold and brilliant in its conception and execution, he forced the 
passage of Cedar Creek at three points, pierced the camps of the 
enemy, surprised and routed two corps, capturing camps and camp 
equipage, many prisoners, and much artiller3\ But his little army 
was unequal to its successes. Reduced by battle and straggling, de- 
moralized by plunder, thinking the work of the da}'- already done, 
it fell short of a great victory ; and Sheridan, with the Sixth Corps, 
and what remained organized of the other two, came down in wrath 
upon the feeble band, and routed it disastrously. It was certainly 
a strange and unfortunate omission of Gen. Early not to have fol- 
lowed up the success of the morning ;* but there must have been 
considerable demoralization among the troops to account for their 
feeble resistance and readiness to retreat at the close of the day. 

"It was," says Gen. Early, "the case of a glorious victory 
given up by my own troops after they had won it, and it is to be 
accounted for on the ground of the partial demoralization caused by 
the plunder of the enemy's camps, and from the fact that the men 

* See account of this battle in Life of Maj.-Gen. J. B. Gordon. 



472 LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 

undertook to judge for themselves when it was proper to retire. 
Had they but waited, the mischief on the left would have been 
remedied. I have never been able to satisfy myself that the enemy's 
attack in the afternoon, was not a demonstration to cover his re- 
treat during the night. It certainly was not a vigourous one, as is 
shown by the fact that the very small force with which Ramseur 
and Goggin held him in check so long; and the loss in killed and 
wounded in the division which first gave way was not heavy, and 
was the least in numbers of all but one, though it was the third in 
strength, and its relative loss was the least of all the divisions. I 
read a sharp lecture to my troops, in an address published to them 
a few days after the battle, but I have never attributed the result 
to a want of courage on their part, for I had seen them perform 
too many prodigies of valour to doubt that. There was an indi- 
viduality about the Confederate soldier which caused him to act 
often in battle according to his own opinions, and thereby impair 
his own efficiency ; and the tempting bait offered by the rich plun- 
der of the camps of the enemy's well-fed and well-clothed troops, 
was frequently too great for our destitute soldiers, and caused them 
to pause in the career of victory." 

The battle of Cedar Creek may be said to have closed the 
Valley campaign, and to have terminated Gen. Early's military 
career. There were afterwards some affairs; and a few weeks be- 
fore the final scenes around Richmond, a remnant of Early's com- 
mand, about 1,000 men, were overrun and dispersed at "Waynes- 
boro, the General escaping by riding aside into the woods, and 
making his way to Charlottesville with about a dozen companions. 
But the action of Cedar Creek was the decisive event. The fitful 
flash of that morning when Early surprised the enemy and broke 
two of his corps, was the last Confederate victory in the Valley of 
Virginia — a region so glorious with Confederate triumphs, that it 
had been called by the Federals the "Valley of Humiliation."* 

* In a printed memoir of his campaign, Gen. Early malces tlie following compari- 
son between his own operations and the earlier ones of tho war that achieved such 
triumphs on the fields he had to abandon. 

" Some attempts have been made to compare my campaign in the Yalley with that 
of Gen. Jaclvson in the same district, in order to cast censure on me, but such com- 
parison is not necessary for the vindication of the fame of that great leader, and it is 
most unjust to me, as the circumstances under which we operated were so entirely 
dissimilar. It was my fortune to serve under Gen. Jackson, after his Valley cam- 



LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 473 

For his reverses in the Valley Gen. Early had to suffer severely. 
The press and people, impatient for victories, and seized by feel- 
ings of desperation when the Confederate cause was evidently 
lapsing, condemned him unmercifully. He was charged chiefly 
with drunkenness ; but there were a number of officers who had 
been with him on the field in every battle of 1864, who were able 
to testify that they had never once seen him under the influence of 
liquor. Some other charges were equally unfounded. But his 
errours were so magnified and multiplied by popular accusation, 
and so urgent became the demand for his removal, that Gen. Lee, 
although with unwavering confidence in the ability of his lieuten- 
ant, felt compelled to relieve him from command. 



paign until his death, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that I enjoyed his con- 
fidence, which was signally shown in his last official act towards me ; and no one 
admires his character and reveres his memory more than I do. It is not, therefore, 
with any view to detract from his merits, that I mention the following facts, but to 
show how improper it is to compare our campaigns with a view of contrasting their 
merits. 1st. Gen. Jackson did not have the odds opposed to him which I had, and 
his troops were composed entirely of the very best material which entered into the 
composition of our armies — that is, the men who came out voluntarily in the-begin- 
ning of the war; while my command, though comprising all the principal organiza- 
tions which were with him, did not contain 1,500 of the men who had participated in 
the first Valley campaign, and there was a hke falling off in the other organizations 
with me which had not been with Gen. Jackson in that campaign. This was owing 
to the losses in killed and disabled, and prisoners who were not exchanged. Besides 
the old soldiers, whose numbers were so reduced, my command was composed of re- 
cruits and conscripts. 2nd. Gen. Jackson's cavalry was not outnumbered by the 
enemy's, and it was far superior in efficiency — Ashby being a host in himself; while 
my cavalry was more than trebled in numbers, and far excelled in arms, equipments, 
and horses, by that of the enemy. 3rd. The Yalley, at the time of his campaign, was 
teeming with provisions and forage from one end to the other ; while my command 
had very great difficulty in obtaining provisions for the men, and had to rely almost 
entirely on the grass in the open fields for forage. 4th. When Gen. Jackson was 
pressed and had to retire, as well when he fell back before Banks in the spring of 
1862, as, later, when he retired before Fremont to prevent Shields from getting in his 
rear, the condition of the water-courses was such as to enable him to stop the advance 
of one column by burning the bridges, and then fall upon and defeat another column ; 
and, when hard pressed, place his troops in a position of security, until a favourable 
opportunity oflered for attacking the enemy; while all the water-courses were low 
and fordable, and the whole country was open in my front, on my flanks, and in my 
rear, during my entire campaign. These facts do not detract from the merits of Gen. 
Jackson's campaign in the slightest degree, and far be it from me to attempt to ob- 
scure his well-earned and richly-deserved fame. They only show that I ought not to 
be condemned for not doing what he did." 



474 LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 

Immediately after the battle of Cedar Greek, Gen. Early Lad 
written a letter to Gen. Lee, stating his willingness to be relieved 
from command, if the latter deemed it necessary for the public 
interests. The suggestion was not acted upon for several months ; 
and it was just before the closing scenes of the war that Gen. Lee 
wrote the following letter, terminating the military career of Early, 
but putting upon his record of public services a seal of approba- 
tion, an expression of personal confidence, of which the veteran 
commander might well be proud. 

Headquarters, Confederate States Armies, 
30th March, 1865. 

Lieut.-Gen. J. A. Early ^ Franklin Co., Va.: 

General, — My telegram will have informed you that I deem 
a change of commanders in your Department necessary ; but it is 
due to your zealous and patriotic services that I should explain 
the reasons that prompted my action. The situation of affairs is 
such that we can neglect no means calculated to develop the 
resources we possess to the greatest extent, and make them as 
efficient as possible. To this end, it is essential that we should 
have the cheerful and hearty support of the people, and the full con- 
fidence of the soldiers, without which our efforts would be embar- 
rassed and our means of resistance weakened. I have reluctantly 
arrived at the conclusion that you cannot command the united and 
willing cooperation which is so essential to success. Your 
reverses in the Valley, of which the public and the army judge 
chiefly by the results, have, I fear, impaired your influence both 
with the people and the soldiers, and would add greatly to the dif- 
ficulties which will, under any circumstances, attend our military 
operations in Southwestern Virginia. While my own confidence 
in your ability, zeal, and devotion to the cause is unimpaired, I 
have nevertheless felt that I could not oppose what seems to be the 
current of opinion without injustice to your reputation and injury 
to the service. I therefore felt constrained to endeavour to find a 
commander who would be more likely to develop the strength and 
resources of the country, and inspire the soldiers with confidence ; 
and, to accomplish this purpose, I thought it proper to yield my 
own opinion, and to defer to that of those to whom alone we can 
look for support. 

I am sure that you will understand and appreciate my motives, 



LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 475 

and no one will be more ready than yourself to acquiesce in any 
measures which the interests of the country may seem to require, 
regardless of all personal considerations. 

Thanking you for the fidelity and energy with which you have 
always supported my efforts, and for the courage and devotion you 
have ever manifested in the service of the country, 
?*■ I am, very respectfully and truly. 

Your obedient servant, 

E. E. Lee, General. 

Gen, Lee knew better than the general public did the difficul- 
ties which confronted Early in the notable campaign of 1864, and 
he knew and took into account that disproportion of numbers 
which made the campaign " a forlorn hope " in view of the enemy's 
resources. Indeed, when history reveals this disproportion, it 
shows that Sheridan ought to have accomplished more than he 
actually did with one-half his numbers ; and that even then he 
would have deserved not more than a tithe of the popular reputa- 
tion he gained. 

After the campaign in the Yalley Gen. Early had proceeded 
to Lynchburg, to reorganize what remained of his command ; and 
thence he had joined Gen. Echols, who was operating near the State 
line between Virginia and Tennessee. Having received at Abing- 
don Gen. Lee's order directing him to turn over the command in 
Southwestern Virginia to Gen. Echols, he rode to Marion, in Smythe 
County. From the exposure of the journey he contracted a cold 
and cough so violent as to produce hemorrhage from the lungs, and 
prostrate him for several days in a very dangerous condition. 
While he was in this situation, a heavy cavalry force under Stone- 
man, from Thomas's army in Tennessee, moved through North 
Carolina to the east, and a part of it came into Virginia from the 
main column, and struck the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad at 
New River, east of Wytheville ; whence, after destroying the 
bridge, it moved east, cutting off" all communication with Rich- 
mond, and then crossed over into North Carolina. As soon as Gen. 
Early was in a condition to be moved, he was carried on the railroad 
to Wytheville, and was proceeding thence to his home in an ambu- 
lance, under the charge of a surgeon, when he received, most unex- 
pectedly, the news of the surrender of Gen. Lee's army. It is said 



476 LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 

that when the strange and unwelcome information was first com- 
municated to him he expressed his disbelief with a formidable 
oath ; but being assured of the fact, he turned over on his uneasy- 
bed with a groan, and, with all the solemnity of the venerable 
Zachariah, exclaimed : "Blow your horn, Gabriel I " 

Gen. Early was a man whose person made a strong impression 
on the mind, and whose character was exceptional and interesting. 
He was resolute, perhaps obstinate, in his opinions ; a true friend, 
but a man of no professions, taking apparent pleasure rather in 
doing more than he was obliged to do, than in giving kindly 
assurances of wishes, or polished expressions of regret for inability 
to comply with the expectation of friends. His bald head, gray, 
shaggy beard, and bent frame, tortured and warped by wounds and 
rheumatism, indicated a greater age than he actually carried. An 
old bachelor, he had during' the war the reputation of being a 
woman-hater. It is said that he never approved an application 
for furlough when the applicant wished it for the purpose of get- 
ting married, and he often declared that every officer who was 
married either became utterly worthless or straightway got him- 
self killed. We are led to believe that, with Jubal Early, it was 
not always thus. Gifted by nature with a handsome figure, a 
pleasing wit, an intellectual brow, and as fine an eye as ever gave 
expression to a man's face, it is not probable that he had always 
held himself aloof from the society of ladies. An intimate friend 
hints that his early life was influenced by an " affair ; " but what- 
ever cooled his affection for the opposite sex, it seems to have been 
quieted forever. It was the oft-told tale of disappointed love ; yet 
the tender feeling with which he always alluded to the grave of 
his mother, and his noble, beautiful letter to the ladies of Winches- 
ter and the Valley of the Shenandoah, from his retreat in Canada, 
evince a manly love of good women, which neither age nor trou- 
bles nor exile have been able to destroy. 

Nothing could be more feeling, no expression more tender and 
honourable towards the women of the country, than what occurs 
in the following passage from Gen. Early's pen, describing pecu- 
liar excesses of the enemy in the Yalley of Virginia : " I had often 
seen delicate ladies, who had been plundered, insulted, and ren- 
dered desolate by the acts of our most atrocious enemies, and while 
they did not call for it, yet, in the anguished expressions of their 



LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 477 

features while narrating their misfortunes, there was a mute appeal 
to every manly sentiment of my bosom for retribution, which I 
could no longer withstand. On my passage through the lower 
Valley into Maryland, a lady had said to me, with tears in her 
eyes, ' Our lot is a hard one, and we see no peace ; but there are a 
few green spots in our lives, and they are when the Confederate 
soldiers come along and we can do something for them.' May 
God defend and bless those noble women of the Valley, who so 
often ministered to the wounded, sick, and dying Confederate sol- 
diers, and gave their last morsel of bread to the hungry ! They 
bore with heroic courage the privations, sufferings, persecutions 
and dangers, to which the war which was constantly waged in 
their midst exposed them, and upon no portion of the Southern 
people did the disasters which finally befell our army and country 
fall with more crushing effect than upon them." 

It is hardly just to judge Gen. Early's military merits by his 
fortunes or misfortunes. With a mind clear, direct and compre- 
hensive, his opinion was entitled to that respect which it always 
received from Gen. Lee. Quick to decide, and almost inflexible 
in decision, with a boldness to attack that approached rashness, 
and a tenacity in resisting that resembled desperation, he was yet 
on the field of battle hardly equal to his own intellect and decision. 
He moved too slowly from point to point ; and had he possessed 
the personal activity of Breckinridge, or the dash of Gordon, he 
would, in his misfortune, better have escaped censure. Moreover, 
he received with impatience, and never acted upon advice — a sug- 
gestion from his subordinates. Arbitrarj^, cynical, with strong 
prejudices, and totally irreligious, he was personally disagreeable 
to the majority of men ; he made no admirers or friends either by 
his manners or his habits, and those who defended him did so 
because they were convinced of his patriotism, of his earnestness, 
and of his great ability. He had tender feelings, but he endeav- 
oured to conceal them, and often acted as if he would be ashamed 
to be detected in doing a kindness ; yet many will recall with pleas- 
ure, little acts of Old Jubal, which proved that his heart was not 
unkind. 

The strong character of the man was fruitful of anecdote. The 
soldiers of his army had a hundred jests and witticisms about him. 
They called him " Old Jube," sometimes " Old Jubilee." His 



478 LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 

burly person, his neglected dress, his peculiar speech, made him a 
marked man. Long exposure had made the old coat which he 
wore quite dingy. A wide-brim hat overshadowed his sparkling 
eyes, his swarthy features, and grizzled hair. His face, set upon 
a short neck, joined to stooping shoulders, attracted attention from 
every one. In the dark eye you could read the resolute character 
of the man, as in his satirical smile you saw the evidence of that 
dry, trenchant, often mordant humour, for which he was famous. 
The keen glance drove home the sarcastic speech, and almost every 
one who ventured upon word combats with Gen. Lee's " bad old 
man " sustained a "palpable hit." 

An instance of his wit at the expense of Stonewall Jackson was 
greatly relished by his troops. In the retreat from Sharpsburg, 
Jackson had been left at Winchester to remove some supplies, and 
was making one of his rapid marches to rejoin Longstreet in the 
neighbourhood of Culpeper Court-House. There was a good 
deal of straggling on the march, and evidences among the men of 
a free imbibing of the " apple-jack " which abounded in this part 
of the country. Gen. Jackson happened to ride in rear of Early's 
division, and was greatly concerned to find the men scattered for 
miles along the road. Gen. Early had expended his eloquence and 
his oaths in vain ; he had even spread the report that the moun- 
tain huts were full of small-pox ; but this did not prevent his 
prying followers from satisfying their curiosity at every sign of 
habitation on their route. At night, while he was nursing his rheu- 
matism by the camp-fire, an orderly rode up with a dispatch from 
Gen. Jackson, curtly inquiring " why he had seen so many strag- 
glers in rear of Gen. Early's division that day." The answer was 
drawn up, with due form : 

Headquarters Early's DmsiOK. 
Captain: In answer to your note, I would state that I think 
it probable that the reason why Gen. Jackson satv so many of my 
stragglers on the march to-day is that he rode in rear of my divi- 
sion. Eespectfully, 

J. A. Early, 

Major- General. 
Capt. A. S. Pendleton, A.A.G. 

All the anecdotes about Gen. Early were characteristic. Speak- 



LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 479 

ing slowly and with a species of drawl in his voice, all that he 
said was pointed, direct, and full of sarcastic force. These " hits " 
he evidently enjoyed, and he delivered them with the coolness of 
a swordsman making a mortal lunge. All the army had laughed 
at one of them. "While marching at the head of his column, dusty, 
in his dingy gray uniform, and with his faded old hat over his 
eyes, he had seen leaning over a fence and looking at the column 
as it passed, a former associate in the Virginia Convention, who 
had violently advocated secession. This gentleman was clad in 
citizen's clothes — black coat and irreproachable shirt-bosom — and 
greeted Early as he passed. The reply of the General was given 
with his habitual smile and sarcastic drawl : " How are you ? " he 
said. " I think you said the Whigs wouldn't fight." The blow 
was rude, and made the whole army laugh. Of this peculiar 
humour a better instance still is given. After Fisher's Hill, when 
his whole army was in complete retreat, and the Federal forces 
were pressing him close, he was riding with Gen. Breckinridge. 
It might have been supposed that their conversation would relate 
to the disastrous events of the day, but Gen. Early did not seem 
to trouble himself upon that subject. In full retreat as they were, 
and followed by an enraged enemy, his companion was astounded 
to hear from Early the cool and nonchalant question : " Well, 
Breckinridge, what do you think of the decision of the Supreme 
Court in the Dred Scott case, in its bearings upon the rights of the 
South in the Territories?" The man who could amuse himself 
with political discussions between Fisher's Hill and Woodstock, 
on the 22d of September, 1864, must have been of hard stuff or 
peculiar humour. 

With another anecdote of Gen. Early, in which for once he 
appears to have been worsted, and which is given on the literal 
authority of a distinguished companion in arms, we close this 
curious budget of military humour. Before the battle of Fred- 
ericksburg, Early's division and that of a friend were posted at 
Port Royal and vicinity. At sunset the day before, the troops 
were from fifteen to twenty-five miles from the city, but by march- 
ing that night they were up in time for the fight next morning. 
The General's friend had received as a present a flask of old 
whiskey, which he had resolved to give to the General, as that 
kind of liquor did not agree with himself. He informed the Gen- 



480 LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 

eral of his intention, but the hurried night-march and the battle 
prevented him from fulfilling his promise. The night after the 
fight he took out the flask, saw that the contents were all right, 
and that the cork was tight and firm ; then placing it under his 
head, he lay down on the bare ground and slept as the tired sol- 
dier only can sleep. The dawn found him on his feet and examin- 
ing his flask. The cork was in place just as on the night before, 
but the inside was as dry as the sand in the desert of Sahara. The 
two officers met some hours after, when the following conversation 
took place : 

General E. : Well, Burnside is gone, and I am thirsty. 

Friend : General, I am sorry to tell you that I put 3'our 
flask under my head last night, and on looking at it this morn- 
ing the cork was all right, but the whiskey was all gone. 

General E. (in his most sawlike tones) : Jerusalem ! were 
you drinking all night ? 

Ehiend: Ah! General, we are so apt to judge others by our- 
selves. 

On the close of the war Gen. Early's course of individual action 
was as characteristic as ever. He had always said that he never 
again should live under the rule of the Yankees. As soon as he 
was able to ride, the obstinate, bitter old man, who, since his 
wound at "Williamsburg in 1862 had seldom mounted his horse 
without assistance, bade farewell to Virginia, and went to seek a 
home in foreign lands. With his pistols in his holsters, and with 
one or two companions, he journeyed on horseback from Virginia 
to Texas, running the gauntlet the whole way, but undisturbed, 
except at the crossing of the Mississippi. The design of this 
journey Gen. Early declares was " to join the army of Gen. Kirby 
Smith, should it hold out, with the hope of at least meeting an 
honourable death, while fighting under the flag of my coun- 
try." In crossing the river he lost his riding-horse, bridle and 
saddle. But those who captured them did not know whose 
they were, and the General had a led-horse with which he 
managed to continue his retreat. Arriving undiscovered in 
Texas, he found the Confederate cause lost; remained there 
three months, and escaped thence by way of Galveston to 
the Bahama Banks, where he landed in a settlement composed 
chiefly of negroes, and was compelled to remain for nine 



LIEUT.-GEN. JUBAL A. EARLY. 481 

days, " hobnobbing with gentlemen of African descent." He then 
managed to get to Nassau, whence he went to Havana, and thence 
to Mexico. He remained at the Mexican capital three months, 
holding himself entirely aloof from the government of Maxi- 
milian, because he had no sympathy with it, and did not believe 
it had strength enough to sustain itself. He then returned to 
Havana, and went to Canada. 

In his exile Gen. Early has written an interesting memoir of 
his last campaign, from which we have drawn a number of facts 
contained in this sketch. There is something peculiarly melan- 
choly in the condition of this unrelenting and unsurrendered 
" rebel " wandering sulkily and secretly from the ancient Common- 
wealth of Virginia, which he loved more than his life, and choos- 
ing exile in foreign lands, until the few days left him are entirely 
numbered. But the picture is not without a severe dignity. Gen. 
Early has made a sacrifice of self, however mistaken the neces- 
sity or consideration for the crucifixion of his love. He remains 
in exile, while some of those who reviled him for his opposition 
to secession have been duly pardoned, and are restored to home 
and fortune, and others have quitted the impoverished South to 
enjoy the ease of Northern cities. 

31 



MAJ.-GEN. GUSTATUS W. SMITH. 



CHAPTER XLII. 



His family in Kentucky. — He serves in the Mexican war. — Complimentary notices 
from Gen. Scott. — Appointed Street Commissioner of New York. — Resigns, visits 
Kentucky, and accepts a Major-Generalship in the Confederate service. — His shght 
record in the war. — His resignation. — Injustice of President Davis. — Volunteer 
services of Gen. Smith in the latter period of the war. 

GusTAvus W. Smith was born on tlie first day of Jannarj, 
1822, near Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky, and is a cousin 
of John C. Breckinridge. His parents were both natives of the 
same county. His grand-parents, paternal and maternal, re- 
moved from Eastern Virginia to Kentucky in the time of Daniel 
Boone, when the red men still disputed with the whites for pos- 
session of their favourite hunting-ground — the far-famed " Blue 
Grass District." He was by lineage, education and habits a thor- 
ough Kentuckian. 

Through the influence of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, then 
Vice-President of the United States, who was the close neighbour 
and life-long personal and political friend of Kodes Smith, the 
paternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch, Gustavus "W". 
Smith was appointed a cadet, and entered tlie United States Mili- 
tary Academy in 1838. At the end of six months, he had estab- 
lished a reputation for ability of no ordinary degree, and was 
placed first in mathematics in a class reported to be equal, if not 
superiour, to any ever graduated at West Point. 

On leaving the Military Academy in 1812, he was appointed 
a lieutenant in the United States Corps of Engineers. In 1846, 
although still a second-lieutenant, and low on the list, because of 



MAJ.-GEN. GUSTAVUS W. SMITH. 483 

the slow promotion in that celebrated corps, he was selected by 
the chief-engineer, and ordered upon duty as senior lieutenant of 
the company of " sappers and miners," or engineer soldiers, then 
being recruited and organized. 

In the Mexican war Smith served as second-lieutenant, and 
at the age of twenty-five won for himself the reputation of being 
one of the best officers in the American army. The records of 
Congress, in regard to the war with Mexico, abound in notices 
of the gallantry and skill of the young officer. At the siege of 
Vera Cruz, the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Cherubusco 
and Chapultepec, and at the attack on San Cosmo Garita, and in 
the bloody street-fighting within the city, the name of G. W. 
Smith is conspicuously mentioned in the official dispatches of 
Gen. Scott, and by Gens. Worth, Twiggs, and others. 

He was three times brevetted for skill, gallantry, and distin- 
guished conduct upon the field of battle— at Cerro Gordo, at 
Cherubusco, and at the city of Mexico. Gen. Scott often bore 
testimony to his high character and professional ability. In an 
official letter, he said : " In conclusion, I will add, that I have 
never known a young officer so often or so highly distinguished 
as Captain Smith was during the war with Mexico." 

After the Mexican war Capt. Smith served for several years 
as principal assistant professor of engineering and the art of war, 
in the United States Military Academy. He was stationed at 
West Point on this duty at the time he resigned from the army, 
in December, 1854. He came to the city of New York in Octo- 
ber, 1856, and was engaged soon after as Chief-Engineer of the 
Trenton Iron Company. He held various other important and 
responsible positions, and was associated in business relations with 
men of the highest position and standing in this community. In 
1858, under the administration of Mayor Tiemann, he became 
connected with the city government ; and, as Street Commissioner 
of New York, he showed himself as competent to discharge the 
duties of a civil, executive, and administrative officei', as he had 
previously done those of a soldier and engineer. 

"When, with the bombardment of Fort Sumter, war burst 
upon the country with all its startling reality, Capt. Smith was 
still in New York, holding a lucrative position. He was popu- 
lar ; he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of a large circle of 



484 MAJ.-GEN. GUSTAVUS W. SMITH. 

influential and respectable people; and there was no position, 
either civil or military, to which he might not have honourably 
aspired. His native State, Kentucky, had not yet seceded ; and 
he might have joined " the Union army," as it was profanely 
called, and not have been liable to the charge of infidelity to his 
State, according to the Southern code. But the conscientious 
choice of the man was diflferent. 

In August, 1861 (after the battle of Manassas had been 
fought), Capt. Smith made his way to Kentucky. When, in the 
preceding winter, the legishature of that State, by an almost 
unanimous vote, declared that the seceded States should not be 
coerced into the Union, Capt. Smith was looked to as tlie chosen 
military leader of Kentucky. When he returned to the State he 
fonnd that a majority of the people had been deceived and be- 
trayed ; and he immediately determined not to be enchained with 
her, even temporarily, under the rule of the Federals. lie there- 
fore left Kentucky, and, on reaching Nashville, offered his servi- 
ces to the President of the Confederate States, stating tliat he had 
left the North, and come back to the South, with the intention 
of sharing her destiny. A few days afterwards he proceeded to 
Kichmond, and, without application on his part, upon the recom- 
mendation of the two Johnstons and Beauregard, was by the 
President appointed a Major-General. 

The record of Gen. Smith in tlie war was brief, but it was 
not without some brilliant passages ; and he was giving promises 
of great distinction when liis career was suddenly cut off by the 
-flat of tlie powers in Ilichmond. He was, at first, appointed 
commander of the second corps of the Army of the Potomac, 
whilst Beauregard commanded the first, and Joseph E. Johnston 
the army. This distribution of commands, however, appears to 
have been ill-defined, and to have been productive of some jeal- 
ousies. In the celebrated retreat from Centreville, Gen. Smith 
commanded the left wing of Johnston's army; he was again con- 
spicuous in command of the rear-guard and left wing in the 
movement from Yorktown back upon Richmond ; and on the 
battle-field of Seven Pines, where Johnston was wounded, he 
succeeded to the chief command of the army. Within twenty- 
four hours, however. Gen. Lee was appointed its regular com- 
mander. Soon after Gen. Smith was assigned a separate com- 



MAJ.-GEN. GUSTAVUS W. SMITH. 485 

inand, embracing ^N^ortli Carolina and the southern coast of Vir- 
ginia, including Richmond. In this Department he checked two 
advances of the enemj — in December, 1862, and January, 1863. 
About this time President Davis seems to have contracted a 
strong prejudice against Gen. Smith; and, in one day, he pro- 
moted six of his juniors to be Lieutenant-Generals. All this, how- 
ever, did not damp the patriotic ardour though it wounded the 
sensibilities of Gen. Smith, who continued to give his constant 
and earnest attention to his duties. 

In 1863, however, Gen. Smith felt that President Davis had 
become so personally inimical to him that he could no longer 
retain command under him, except at imminent risk to the vital 
interests of the Confederate cause. He therefore resigned his 
position in the army, and was soon after elected President of the 
Etowah Manufacturing and Mining Company of Georgia. These 
were extensive iron works, second in importance only to the 
Tredegar Works in Richmond. In this capacity he did great 
service to the Confederacy in producing the materials of war, 
until the works were burned by Gen. Sherman, in 1864. 

Notwithstanding the resignation of the military commission 
from President Davis, Gen, Smith at different periods of the war 
thereafter, took up his arms, and did some important temporary 
services. Such was his patriotic desire to aid all in his power in 
the OTeat stru2:2:le, that he offered, his services to Gen. Beaure- 
gard in an expected attack on Charleston, as volunteer aide, or in 
any capacity in which he could for the time be useful. The 
offer was accepted, and he was with Gen. Beauregard in the 
gallant defence of Charleston in April, 1863. He removed to 
Georgia, and went into the iron business there Avith the declara- 
tion, that if this State ever needed his military services he would 
be prompt to render them. In the last exigencies of the war, 
when Georgia had to put out all her local forces against the 
enemy, Gen. Smith was elected Major-General of the militia ; 
and he continued to serve in that capacity until captured and 
paroled at Macon, on the 20th April, 1865. 

The i^opular Southern estimate of Gen. Smith as a military 
man was, that he never had the opportunities which his talents 
merited, and that, if he had been fairly tried, he would have 
taken rank with the most distinguished and deserving leaders of 



486 MAJ.-GEN. GUSTAVUS W. SMITH. 

the war. He had a solid and excellent military education ; he 
had a remarkable command over men, arising from a powerful 
will, combined with a rare sense of justice; and he displayed a 
devotion to what he believed right which completed the charac- 
ter of the warriour, and gave it a heroic cast. It is a matter of 
regret that he was so slightly employed in the war; and a subject 
of indignation that he was so imjustly treated by a capricious 
Executive. 



MAJ-GEN. LAFAYETTE M'LA¥S. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 



Services in the United States Army. — Appointed a Brigadier-General in the Confed- 
erate States Army, September, 1861. — Promoted in front of Riclimond. — His part 
in tlie capture of Harper's Ferry. — His glorious and bloody work at Fredericks- 
burg. — The East Tennessee campaign, 1863. — Gen. McLaws opposes the assault on 
KnoxvUIe. — Extraordinary reply of Gen. Longstreet. — Defective reconnoisances of 
the enemy's works. — "Why the assault failed. — Gen. McLaws court-martialed, 
and triumphantly acquitted. — A remarkable peculiarity of his military career. 

Lafayette McLaws is a Georgian by birth. His ancestors 
on his father's side were Scotch ; on that of his mother, French 
Huguenot. 

After passing a year at the University of Virginia, he received 
the appointment of Cadet at West Point, from which institution 
he graduated in 1842. His first service was at Fort Gibson, in 
the Cherokee country ; and he afterwards, until the commencement 
of hostilities between the United States and Mexico, served at Pen- 
sacola, from which place he sailed, early in 18i6, to join the army 
of occupation at Corpus Christi, under Gen. Taylor. He was in 
Fort Brown during the eleven days' bombardment of that place by 
the enemy, and shared with his regiment (the 7th Infantry) the 
perils and privations attending the famous siege of Monterey. His 
regiment having been ordered to join Gen. Scott, he was present 
at the bombardment and surrender of Vera Cruz and the Castle 
of San Juan d'Ulloa. His health failed at this time, and here- 
turned to the United States on recruiting service. After the treaty 
of Guadalupe Hidalgo, he was appointed Adjutant-General in the 
department of New Mexico, in which capacity he continued to act 
for two years. Promoted to a captaincy, he was subsequently 
stationed at various posts on the western frontier. As Captain of 



488 MAJ.-GEN. LAFAYETTE M'LAWS. 

the Tth United States Infantry, he served, under Sidney Johnston, 
in tlie expedition against the Mormons, and remained in the Ter- 
ritory of Utah more than two years. Thence he was ordered to 
Xew Mexico, and intrusted with an important command against 
the Kavajo Indians. Those famihar with the ability, skill, and 
success exhibited by him in this expedition, award him great cred- 
it ; and his valuable services would doubtless have been honoura- 
bly acknowledged by the War Department at Washington, had 
not all the minor events of the times been swallowed up by the great 
political revolution then just declaring itself. 

This busy record in the Federal army had already made for 
Capt. McLaws a considerable reputation. lie was marked as one 
of the most promising officers in the regular service, and was dis- 
tinguished for his coolness, self-possession, gallantry, and good 
conduct. His display of personal qualities attested the thorough 
gentleman ; and he was known in the army for bis unselfish dis- 
position, and his utter detestation of all unmanly rivalries for pro- 
motions and favours, in a service which appears more than any 
other to provoke the envy and jealousy of men. 

When Georgia seceded from the Union, McLaws resigned the 
Federal service, and offered his sword to the State, before the Con- 
federate compact had been executed, and when she was already 
busy in organizing troops for her defence. He subsequently en- 
tered the Confederate army, and took command of the 10th Georgia 
regiment. After his appointment as colonel of this regiment, which 
contained some of the best fighting stock in the army, he was sta- 
tioned near Williamsburg, Yirginia, and was for some time in 
command of a brigade. In September, 1861, he was appointed a 
Brigadier-General, and ordered with his command to Young's 
Mill. Here, and afterwards at Lee's Mill, he displayed such judg- 
ment, ability, and energy in administering the affairs of his com- 
mand, and in strengthening his position against the enemy, that 
he soon drew the notice of his superiour officers, and was designated 
for important and critical services. 

When Gen. Johnston arrived on the Peninsula, to direct the 
campaign there, McLaws' command was increased by some other 
brigades ; and in an affair with the enemy at Dam No. 1, near 
Lee's Mill, he greatly distinguished himself Soon followed the 
retreat to Richmond, and the battle of Williamsburg, in whicli 



MAJ.-GEN. LAFAYETTE M'LAWS. 489 

McLaws was engaged. After the arrival of the army at Rich- 
mond, Gen, Johnston recommended the promotion of McLaws, 
and he was at once made a Major-General. His division, consist- 
ing of Kershaw's and Semmes' brigades, was engaged in the battles 
of Savage Station and Malvern Hill. When the Confederate 
army afterwards took up its line of march in pursuit of the brag- 
gart Pope, the divisions of Smith, D. H. Hill and McLaws were 
left to watch the movements of the enemy at Harrison's Landing. 
They were, however, soon afterwards called to follow, but were 
only able to rejoin their gallant companions in arms in time to 
enter Maryland. 

Arriving at Frederick, Gen. McLaws was placed in command 
of a corps, consisting of his own and Gen. R. H. Anderson's divi- 
sions, and, in pursuance of orders from Gen. Lee, advanced upon 
Harper's Feny, by way of Pleasant Valley, his object being to 
capture Maryland Heights. His part, which was designed to com- 
plete the investment of Harper's Ferry, and compel the surrender 
of this stronghold of the enemy, involved the severest labour, and 
was crowned with signal success. It was not only necessary to 
drive the enemy from Maryland Heights, but to get cannon to the 
summit. The latter task was accomplished by a road which had 
to be constructed up the rugged and precipitous sides of the moun- 
tain ; and when the rifle guns of Reed's and Carlton's batteries 
opened on the enemy, keeping time with the Confederate artillery 
thundering on the other side, and from Loudoun Heights, they 
announced the fate of Harper's Ferry, and in a brief afternoon 
decided its surrender. In this victory, McLaws had the greatest 
credit next to Stonewall Jackson, and the troops engaged in the 
attack and capture of Maryland Heights obtained especial com- 
mendation. They had been laboriously employed for two days and 
one night along the summit of Elk Ridge, constantly working their 
way under fire during the day, and at night resting in position ; all 
this time without water, as none could be obtained but from the 
valley beneath ; and at the close of the contest there was not a 
straggler from the command. 

Worn down with hunger and fatigue, McLaws' division marched 
through Harper's Ferry, and as night fell snatched a few hours for 
rest and refreshment. Aroused again after midnight, the men 
resumed their march, and continued until the field of Sharpsburg 



490 MAJ.-GEN. LAFAYETTE M'lAWS. 

was reached. The battle destined to be known in history as the 
best fought of the war — an action which shed extraordinary lustre 
on the Confederate arms, considering the great disparity of num- 
bers and the jaded condition of the Southern troops — had just 
commenced as McLaws arrived on the ground. He was ordered 
into the fight by the direction of Gen. Hood ; and his line of battle, 
consisting of four brigades — Cobb's, Kershaw's, Barksdale's and 
Semmes' — drove the enemy from a piece of woods, and, although 
unable to continue its advance, it held until the close of the day 
the position it had gained against a force of the enemy, apparently 
treble, supporting numerous batteries, which crossed fire over 
every portion of the ground. 

The defence of Fredericksburg (December, 1862), and the story 
of Marye's Hill, constitute a chapter of fearful interest in the his- 
tory of the war, and for many generations to come will inspire 
the poetry and eloquence of the country. Glimpses of the ghastly 
tragedy enacted on the slopes of this now famous hill have already 
been afforded in other parts of this work. It was here that 
McLaws did his bloodiest work, and achieved that part of his repu- 
tation most familiar to the public. His name is indissolubly 
connected with this glorious and terrible memory of the war, 
and will be known as long as the story of Marye's Hill and its 
stone wall and its fringed fires of death is recited. In his official 
report of the memorable conflict. Gen. McLaws writes: "The 
Federals advanced with fresh columns to the attack, at intervals of 
not more than fifteen minutes ; but they were repulsed with ease, 
and driven back with much loss on every occasion. This continued 
until about half-past four, p.m., when the enemy ceased in their 
assaults for a time, and posting some artillery in front of the town, 
on the left of the telegraph road, opened on our position, doing but 
little damage. The batteries of Colonel Walton, on Marye's Hill, 
were at this time silent, having exhausted their ammunition, and 
they were being relieved by others from Colonel Alexander's bat- 
talion. Taking advantage of the hill, the 15th South Carolina 
(Colonel De Saussune) was brought forward from the cemetery, 
and posted behind the stone wall, supporting the 2nd South Caro- 
lina regiment. The enemy, in the meanwhile, formed a strong 
column of attack, and advanced under cover of their own artillery, 
and, no longer impeded by ours, came forward along our whole 



MAJ.-GEN. LAFAYETTE M'LAWS. 491 

front, in the most determined manner, but they were repulsed at 
all points. The firing ceased as night came on. The body of one 
man, believed to be an officer, was found within about thirty yards 
of the stone wall, and other single bodies were scattered at increased 
distances. The main mass of the dead lay thickly strewn over the 
ground at something over one hundred yards off, and extending to 
the ravine, commencing at the point where our men would allow 
the enemy's column to approach before opening fire, and beyond 
which no organized body of men was able to pass." 

Upon the latter part of Gen. McLaws' military life — his campaign 
with Longstreet in East Tennessee, 1863 — a cloud was cast, through 
an unhappy controversy with his superiour officer; but a court- 
martial to which he was summoned developed the true history of 
the failure of the assault on Kuoxville, acquitted McLaws, and 
indicated a bad temper and a petulant spirit on the part of Gen. 
Lono-street in accusing his subordinates. The facts of the failure at 

O O 

Knoxville have been brought out in a judicial record, which may 
be taken as the equivalent of history, and which not only excul- 
pates Gen. McLaws, but does him honour for the rare and excellent 
judgment he displayed at the council board, as well as for his pre- 
cise obedience of orders on the field. 

It appears that when Gen. Longstreet arrived in front of Knox- 
ville he hesitated for some time in attacking the fortifications of the 
enemy, and twice recalled the orders for an assault. When he at 
last determined upon this risk. Gen. McLaws had the independence 
of judgment to oppose it, and for peculiar reasons. Some news had 
been imperfectly obtained of Gen. Bragg's disaster at Missionary 
Eidge ; and it was calculated by Gen. McLaws that if such a disaster 
had taken place the communication of Longstreet's army should be 
made with Virginia, as it could not combine again with Gen. Bragg, 
even if it should be successful in an assault on Knoxville. The 
advice was repulsed by Gen. Longstreet, and the following sharp and 
almost insulting letter left Gen. McLaws no alternative but to pre- 
pare his command for the desperate enterprise of assaulting Fofit 
Saunders, the main work of the enemy : 

Headquarters, Nov. 28, 1863. 
General : — Your letter is received. I am not at all confident 
that Gen. Bragg has had a serious battle at Chattanooga, but there is 



492 MAJ.-GEN. LAFAYETTE M'LAWS. 

a report that be has, and has fallen back to Tunnel Hill. Under 
this re23ort I am entirely convinced that our only safety is in making 
the assault upon the enemy's position to-morrow at daylight, and it is 
the more important that I should have the entire support and cooper- 
ation of the officers in tliis connection. I do hope and trust that I 
may have your entire support and all of the force you may be 
possessed of in the execution of my views. It is a great mistake to 
suppose that there is any safety for us in going to Virginia if Gen. 
Bragg has been defeated, for we leave him at the mercy of his vic- 
tors ; and, with his army destroyed, our own had better be also, for 
we will not only be destroyed but disgraced. 

There is neither safety nor honour in any other course than the 
one I have chosen and ordered. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

J. LONGSTREET, 

Lieut.- General coinmanding . 
Maj.-Gen. L. McLaws. 

The assault must be made at the time appointed, and must be 
made with a determination which will insure success. 

J. L. 

The plan of attack arranged by Gen. McLaws was : a regiment 
from Humphrey's Mississippi brigade, and one from Wofford's 
Georgia brigade to lead the assault ; Wofford's regiment to lead the 
column composed of Wofford's brigade assaulting from the left, 
and Humphrey's regiment the column assaulting from the right, 
composed of two regiments of Humphrey's brigade, and three of 
Bryan's following close on Humphrey as a reserve — " the assault to 
be made with fixed bayonets, and witliout firing a gun." 

He had been previously impressed by Gen. Alexander, Chief of 
Artillery of Gen. Longstreet's staff, that there was no ditch at the 
north-west angle of Fort Saunders, that offered any obstacle to an 
assault. Gen. Longstreet himself had declared that there would 
be no difficulty in taking the work, so far as the ditch was con- 
cerned ; that he had seen a man walk down the parapet, across the 
ditch, and up on the outside, without jumping and without ap- 
parent difficulty ; and as there could be no difficulty in running up 



MAJ.-GEN. LAFAYETTE M'LAWS. 493 

the exteriour slope of the earthwork, he saw nothing in the way of 
the men getting into the work and completing a successful assault.* 
Gen. McLaws did not consider that ladders or fascines or any- 
other appliances were necessary to enable the men to get into the 
work ; none certainly to cross the ditch (which had been declared 
to be no obstacle in the way of an assault) and to ascend para- 
pets sloping at an angle of forty-five degrees. And even if he had 
thought so, he had no time, or materials, or tools, or means of any 
kind wherewith to make anything. The commands were with- 
out tools of any kind, without axes even, and their wagons and 
quartermaster stores were at London, left there by orders of Gen. 
Longstreet.f 



* We quote here the words of Gen. (then Colonel) Alexander, before the general 
court-martial assembled in East Tennessee to try Gen. McLaws : 

Question 8 — Did you not state after your reconnoissance that there was no ditch 
opposite the bastion at north-west angle. That there was some fresh dirt at that 
point, and that there had only been a little scratching there. Did you communicate 
this to Generals Longstreet and McLaws. 

Answer — I never stated that there was no ditch at that point, but I stated that 
the ditch was of such small dimensions as to be no obstacle to an assault, and of 
such shape (see fig. 3) as to be no obstacle in the way of an assault. I communi- 
cated it to both repeatedly, and advised the attack on this point. On one occasion 
I took Gen. Longstreet to a point where he could see it, and showed him a man 
crossing the ditch. 

Gen. Longstreet in his testimony before the same court says : " I made several 
very careful examinations of the Fort myself, before it was attacked, on all sides as 
near as I could get to it. I think I got within four hundred yards of it on the north 
side." * * * " I remember particularly to have seen a soldier march out of the 
Fort, down the ditch, and up to the other side, outside of the ditcli, on the west 
side, from the north side. The cut in the ditch on the west side seemed to have been 
made more for the purpose of getting dirt than for obstructions. In passing over 
the ditch more than half of the person of the soldier could be seen on the west 
side ; in passing down the ditch he seemed to walk and not jump ; he seemed to find 
no difficulty in getting out of the ditch on the outside. I was told by some officers 
that dogs were seen to pass over the same ditch. These circumstances led me to 
believe that the ditch on the west side was a shght obstacle." 

Again Col. Alexander testifies : 

Question — Did you advise ladders for the attack ? 

Answer — I did not ; I did not consider them essential. Something was said about 
fascines, and I said they might be useful to protect the men from bullets in their 
approach ; but I did not consider them essential in crossing the ditch, 

f Capt. J. J. Middleton, acting division quartermaster of McLaw's Division, thus 
testifies : 

"From the time we left London, 15th November, 1863, until some days after the 



404 MAJ.-GEN. LAFAYETTE M'LAWS. 

Of the conduct of the assault Gen. McLaws says in his official 
report : " Before four o'clock on morning of the 29th November 
I went around with my staff to superintend the execution of my 
orders for the assault. It was evident to me that the enemy were 
aware that one was intended, and I think it probable they knew 
where it was to be made ; for while I was talking to Colonel 
Euff on the railroad, the enemy threw a shell which bursted over 
the woods just in rear of us, through which Col. Euff's command 
(Wofford's brigade) was passing, assembling by regiments for the 
assault. I have since heard that the enemy were informed, and 
that during the night of the 28th they had been employed in pour- 
ing buckets of water over the parapets, to render it difficult of 
ascent, the night being very cold, and the water freezing rapidly. 

"The commands being in position and in readiness, and the 
sharpshooters having been directed to.open fire all along their lines, 
so soon as it was light enough to aim, I distributed my staff officers 
along the line, and rode over to Major Leyden's battery, and to 
Gen. Kershaw's line, and found Major Leyden waiting until it 
was light enough to see his elevators, and Kershaw's line ready. 
I gave Mnjor Leyden orders to open while I was there, and rode 
toward the assaulting column. As I went, they could be seen 
advancing in fine style. I rode straight to Wofford's brigade on 
the left, and as I approached the work, found the men falling back ; 
the officers reporting that it was impossible to mount the parapet, 
and that the brigade commander, Col. Euff, and his next in com- 
mand. Col. Thomas, had been killed, and the next in rank 
wounded. I rallied the brigade about four hundred yards from 
the work, reformed the regiments in the order they went to the 
assault, notified them who was their brigade commander, and the 
regiments who commanded them, and then consulting with Gen. 
Humphreys and Gen. Bryan, and finding it was useless to attempt 
to take the work, I reported to Gen. Longstreet, and asked 

assault on the 29th November, we were without trains, carpenter's tools, blacksmiths, 
etc.; had no appliances for the manufacture of ladders, and had no lumber out of 
which they could have been made properly. Had an order for such articles been issued, 
it would have been necessary to call for large details, and for said details to have 
found their own tools. Communication with London was very uncertain, owing to 
the miserable condition of the roads, and the division to which I was attached 
might have been termed self-supporting, so entirely was it dependent on its own 
exertions for almost everything that was effected." 



MAJ.-GEN. LAFAYETTE M'LAWS. 495 

authority to withdraw my command. Permission was given, and 
the main body was withdrawn." 

The failure of the assault appears to have been due to imper- 
fect reconnoissances and to the state of the weather. It had rained 
on the night of the 27th, and, the weather then turning very cold, 
the parapet was hard frozen, and a heavy ice crop was formed bv 
the moisture from the bank, which prevented the men from ob- 
taining a foothold. Ladders would not have been of material 
assistance, unless they had been furnished in great numbers and 
had been at least twenty feet long. As it was, the men of McLaw's 
command did all that human resolution could do, and despaired 
only in the face of impossibilities, on the brink of an impassable 
ditch into which as a huge grave they piled their dead. 

We have been thus particular in giving to the reader the story 
of Knoxville, because it excited a sharp interest during the war, 
and was the subject of severe recriminations, in which an attempt 
was made to diminish the hard-earned military reputation of Gen. 
McLaws. That attempt failed. The record of Gen. McLaws re- 
mained at the end of the war undimmed, honourable, and worthy 
of a conspicuous place in the historical memories of the times that 
tried men's souls. 

There was one remarkable peculiarity in his career. There 
were few men, particularly military men, who were prompted less 
by a love of flime than he was. The reputation which he acquired 
was not sought by him, but followed the deeds which he achieved 
in discharging the duties of his position. He had as little selfish- 
ness as falls to the lot of most human beings, and envy and 
jealousy found no lodgment in his bosom. Extraordinary firm- 
ness and determination to do his duty, regardless of all selfish 
aspirations; a heart feelingly alive to the sufferings of the sick and 
afflicted soldiers of his command ; and love for his sovereign State 
and country, were some of the prominent characteristics of his 
nature. Such men live more for human nature and their country 
than themselves. 



MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

Military services in Mexico. — His gallantry at Chapultepec. — Subsequent services in 
the United States Army. — His first command in the Confederate States Army. — 
Heroic conduct of his brigade in the battles around Richmond, 1862. — At 
Gaines' Mills. — At Frazier's Farm. — An incident on the second field of Manassas. — 
Battle of Salem Church. — Important action of Wilcox' Brigade on the second 
day of Gettysburg. — A narrow chance of victoiy. — "Why the supports failed. — 
Amusing anecdote of Gen. "Wilcox and a chicken-thief. — Promoted Major-General. — 
Record of services in the campaign of 1864-5. — Heroic story of Fort Gregg. — 
Last scenes of the surrender. 

Cadmus M. Wilcox was born in Greene county, North Caro- 
lina, but was taken at the age of two years to Tennessee, of which 
State he has since been accounted a citizen. In 1842 he was ap- 
pointed a cadet at the West Point Academy, from the Memphis 
District. He graduated in 1846, and joined tlie Pourtli United 
States infantry as brevet second-lieutenent at Monterey, Mexico, 
a few days after the battle. He was afterwards appointed aid- 
de-camp to Major-Gen. John A. Quitman, and in that capacity 
saw some brilliant service in the Mexican war, and was in all the 
battles in which Quitman's division participated. 

The part borne by this gallant command at Chapultepec, 
Garita de Belin, and the City of Mexico is well known to history. 
At the battle of Chapultepec, Lieut. Wilcox gave the order to 
the storming party to advance to the attack, and went at their 
head. There were two columns of attack ; one led by Quitman 
and the other by Pillow. From Chapultepec to the city of Mex- 
ico, a distance of two miles in a direct line, were two roads, the 
direct one leading through the Garita de Belin, and the longer 



MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 497 

one by San Cosmo. It was by the first mentioned route that Gen. 
Quitman pursued vigorously after the capture of Chapultepec ; 
but although this route was the shorter, it was the more difficult, 
as batteries had to be taken before reaching the gate, then a bat- 
tery there, and, lastly, the position to be held under a concentrated 
fire from the citidel, a bastioned work, less than two hundred 
yards distant, surrounded by a heavy wall and deep ditch of wa- 
ter, with seventeen pieces of artillery and four thousand infantry. 
The Garita de Beliu was captured at twenty minutes past one 
o'clock and held until night, under cover of which Santa Anna 
evacuated the city. When the gate had been gained, Gen. Quit- 
man ordered a flag to be waved from the top of the aqueduct, that 
his men in the rear might know his success. Lieut. Selleck of 
the Palmetto Regiment, assisted by Lieut. "Wilcox, aid-de-camp, 
mounted the aqueduct, and the two lieutenants waved the Pal- 
metto flag, which was the first raised in the city of Mexico. This 
was done under a close and terrific fire of both musketry and ar- 
tillery. Lieut. Selleck, while waving the flag, had a leg broken 
by a musket ball, and fell. One of the men, catching him as he 
fell, also received a shot, and was instantly killed. Lieut. Wil- 
cox received a severe contusion in his left side, his pistol being 
struck by a musket ball, which flattened on it. 

Upon the return of the army to the United States, Lieut. 
Wilcox served on the frontier, west of the Mississij^pi River, in 
Florida, and in Texas — much of the time in operations against 
the Indians. In the autumn of 1852, he was ordered to West 
Point, as assistant instructor in infantry tactics. Here he remain- 
ed on duty until the summer of 1857. During a part of this time 
he was commandant of the cadets. Upon being relieved from 
duty at the military academy, his health not being good, sick 
furlough for twelve months was given him, with permission to 
visit Europe. Returning from Europe, he prepared and publish- 
ed a work upon rifles and the theory of rifle-firing. Of this 
work the War Department at Washington ordered a thousand 
copies for distribution to the army, and it was made a text book 
at West Point Academy. He also translated and published the 
evolutions of the line (infantry), as practiced and adopted by the 
Austrians. 

Entering the field of active duty again, he was ordered to 

32 



498 MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 

New Mexico, and promoted to a captaincy. He was subsequently 
stationed at Fort Fillmore, in Arizona ; and at this distant post 
he hecame apprised of the war consequent on the disruption of 
the Union, and on the 7th June, 18G1, learned that Tennessee, 
the State of his citizenship and allegiance, had seceded. The 
mail that gave him this information bore him an order directing 
liim to proceed forthwith to "Washington city and report for duty 
to Lient.-Gen. Scott. The next morning he tendered his resig- 
nation as an officer of the United States Army, and left for Rich- 
mond. 

Offering his services to the new government, he received the 
appointment of colonel, and was assigned to the command of the 
9th Alabama Regiment. He reached Manassas the day after the 
first brilliant victory on that twice glorious field. On the 21st 
October, 1861, he was made a Brigadier-General, and given the 
command of the 3d Alabama, 1st Mississippi, and 1st Virginia 
regiments, and a battery. At "Williamsburg his brigade was 
prominent, fighting on the I'ight, where the action was a complete 
success for the Confederates. At Seven Fines he commanded 
two brigades, and at Gaines' Mill three — his own, Featherstone's, 
and Pryor's. This command, under the immediate direction of 
Gen. "Wilcox, attacked the extreme left of the enemy's line, and 
was in that part of the field most severely contested. The posi- 
tion of the enemy was defended by numerous and heavy artil- 
lery, admirably posted. The line of attack was formed under a 
brisk enfilading fire of artillerj'- from the Federal batteries of 
rifled cannon from the heights beyond the Chickahominy ; but 
the men moved forward in admirable order, preserving their 
alignments perfectly. Ascending the crest of a hill they came 
in full view of the enemy, and were instantly met by a heavy 
and destructive fire of infantry within less than a hundred yards. 
It was dashing in the face of death. The enemy was in large 
force, directly in front, behind two lines of breastworks, the 
second overlooking the first ; and from behind this, as well as 
the first, a close and terrible fire of musketry was poured in upon 
the devoted assailants. Between them and the works referred to 
was the bed of a small stream which the enemy used as a rifle 
pit, and from this also a strong line of fire was brought to bear. 
Thus exposed to three lines of fire, facing shot, shell, grape, and 



MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 499 

cannister, and all the time suffering from an enfiladed fire from 
batteries of rifle cannon beyond the Chickahominy, the heroic 
men of Wilcox's command seemed to be delivered to destruction. 
But they never faltered ; the first impulse of attack was more 
than redoubled as they approached the enemy ; the Federal ranks 
were shaken, and began to yield only when Wilcox's men had 
got within a few yards of them ; and now with yells the Confed- 
erates run over the rifle-pit, drive the Federals from tlie second 
parapet of logs, push them into the open field, and now when 
the fugitive troops are no longer screened by their breastworks 
or standing timber, breaking them into rout, chasing them in all 
directions, and covering the ground with their dead and wounded. 
Here McClellan lost his battery of Napoleon guns, and with dif- 
ficulty saved what remained of his army under the cover of the 
night. It was this desperate and gallant assault tliat at once con- 
ferred upon Wilcox one of the most brilliant reputations of the 
war. 

At Frazier's Farm there were other laurels won, and in this 
field nearly every regimental officer in Wilcox' command was 
wounded, and the General Iiimself had his clothing perforated by 
six bullets. Two of the enemy's batteries, six guns each, were 
captured ; and although one of them was retaken by the enemy, 
it was only when overwhelming numbers had been brought to 
bear against a solitary regiment (the 11th Alabama), which, en- 
tering the engagement 357 strong, had 181 men and nine com- 
pany ofiicers killed and wounded. In the two battles of Gaines' 
Mills and Frazier's Farm, Wilcox's own brigade had lost 1,055 men 
out of a force of 1,800 ; of this number fifteen ofiicers were killed, 
fifty-two ofiicers were wounded, 216 men killed, and 754 wounded. 
The brigade was in reserve at Malvern Hill, and returned to 
camp on the Charles City road on the 6th July, 1862. Its loss 
was heavier than that of any other brigade; in Longstreet's divis- 
ion, and the severest in the army in proportion to its strength, it 
being composed of only four regiments. 

In the other battles of 1862 in Virginia, Gen. Wilcox was not 
conspicuously engaged. But we may make note of an incident 
on the second field of Manassas, which contains an interesting 
tribute both to himself and to a brave enem3\ While the action 
was progressing, and in the heat of the battle, Wilcox was 



500 MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 

ordered from the left to the right to support a part of the Confed- 
erate lines where the enemy was most vigorously attacking. 
Moving at the head of his troops and riding past the house that 
gave its name to part of the field — Groveton — he saw a man 
lying on the ground, some sixty yards distant, waving a handker- 
chief. The General rode up to him, and discovered that he was 
a wounded Federal officer. The latter remarked : " You don't 
know me, Wilcox. I saw you riding by, and recognized you, and 
wanted to speak to you. My name is Chamberlain, and I was a 
cadet at West Point when you were an instructor there." He 
looked pale, and blood was running from his breast. " Oh, yes," 
replied Gen. Wilcox, " I know you, and I hope you are not much 
hurt ;" and dismounting and kneeling beside him, he examined 
his wound, and found that the cold dew of death was already on 
his forehead. " I will make my men," said tlie General, " move 
you to the shelter of the ravine ; you are exposed here to our 
shells, and those, too, of your own batteries." " No," said the 
dying man, " it is no use ; I am mortally wounded, and you must 
not expose yourself to our fire taking care of me. Farewell !" 
A few moments more and he breathed his last. The incident of 
this meeting illustrates the singular good feeling remarked at all 
times between the old graduates of West Point whenever they 
met under opposite flags, which was at least one generous trait 
of the war. 

In the campaign into Maryland, Gen. Wilcox was compelled 
to obtain sick leave three days before the battle of Sharpsburg ; 
but on the return of the Confederate army to Yirginia he 
rejoined his command, and was soon increasing the fame he had 
made in the early part of the campaign. His reputation ascend- 
ed again on the bloody fields of Chancellorsville, and his com- 
mand was remarkable there in the severe conflict at Salem Church, 
where Sedgwick was defeated and Gen. Lee relieved from the 
pressure of enveloping armies. It was a narrow chance that 
saved the Confederate army on tliat occasion, or, at least, pre- 
vented Sedgwick from getting to its rear at Chancellorsville. 
Late in the afternoon of the 2d May, 1863, Gen. Wilcox received 
a note from Gen. Lee telling him that he needed his help at 
Ohaucellorsville, but as he (Gen. Lee) did not know what was in 
Wilcox' front, he must leave him to decide whether or not to 



MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 501 

move to Chancellorsville early the next morning. Meanwhile, 
Gen. "Wilcox dispatched to Gen. Barksdale at Fredericksburg, 
telling him that he had returned to a position near Banks, Ford, 
and requesting to be informed should the enemy cross at Fred- 
ericksburg. The next morning he examined the front of his line, 
and seeing no indications of the enemy, he lessened his picket 
force, and at once retired all but a small guard at Banks' Ford 
and ten pieces of artillery. He was in the act of taking up the 
inarch to Chancellorsville, when a private from a vidette post 
dashed up to his headquarters at full speed, and reported that 
" the Yankees were coming up between the canal and the river, 
and were opposite Falmouth." Gen. "Wilcox remarked that it 
was probably Barksdale's brigade on its way to Chancellorsville, 
when the soldier replied, "No, General,! have seen the old grid- 
iro7i flag." It was Sedgwick's column, which, unknown to Wil- 
cox, had occupied Fredericksburg and was now marching to 
Gen. Lee's rear. 

There was nothing on the plank-road between Chancellors- 
ville and Sedgwick's column, until Wilcox promptly threw his 
brigade forward, forming it in line on crest of a ridge some 
700 or 800 yards in rear of Marye's Hill. Here he checked 
the enemy, until he had reported the situation to Gen. Lee, and 
indicated to Gen. Early the enemy's line of march by the plank- 
road. Falling back to Salem Church, he selected ground there, 
and was assured by a dispatch from Gen. Lee, that three brigades 
(Kershaw's, Simms' and Mahone's) were marching to his support. 
The troops had all been put in position when Major-Gen. McLaws 
arrived on the field, and the artillery was then playing upon 
the enemy. The decisive field was fixed by Wilcox ; and look- 
ing now only to the conduct of his own brigade, he fought the 
enemy with desperation, and, at one time, with his five regiments 
and two of Simms' brigade, who joined the pursuit without orders, 
he drove the enemy and had him nearly in rout. Had the other 
brigades joined in this movement it might have been more deci- 
sive ; but as it was, the enemy was badly whipped, and bo 
thoroughly demoralized as to meditate only the chances of escape. 
It was an action of only a few minutes' duration, but of great 
mortality. Three hundred of the enemy were killed in front 
of Wilcox' brigade, and nearly 1,000 prisoners taken, with a 



502 MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 

number of regimental flags. His loss was 495 killed and wounded 
out of a force of 2,100 muskets. 

The dramatic field of Gettysburg is already familiar to the 
reader for its pregnant fate and its critical conjunctures ; and it 
was in one of those periods of the multitudinous battle, when 
victory seemed to depend upon a single incident, and trembled 
in the balance, that we have to regard the most remarkable 
appearance of Gen. "Wilcox in the war. It was in the second 
days' fight that Wilcox' brigade took position on the right of 
Heth's division. Hill's corps, and, advancing upon the enemy, 
drove him from the woods into a patch of orchards and hedges. 
Late in the evening, about half-past four o'clock, an artillery fire 
was opened by Gen. McLaws on the part of the enemy's line, 
which soon attracted the fire of several Federal batteries. Gen. 
Wilcox liad received orders several times during the day to 
advance when the troops on his right should advance, and to 
report promptly to the division commander, in order that the 
other brigades should advance successively on to the left. About 
6 P. M., McLaws (on Wilcox's right) advanced on the enemy's 
infantry, being not more than 600 or TOO yards in his front. 
Wilcox was nearly at right angles with McLaws, and moved off 
rapidly by the left flank for 600 or 700 yards, and then by the 
right flank, which brought him on the enemy's right flank and 
rear. In this movement several fences had to be crossed, one 
of stone and one of plank, behind which were the enemy's skir- 
mishers. The movement by the flank was not seen by the 
enemy, but the forward movement after halting and facing to 
the right, rising a ridge on which was the Emmettsburg road, was 
Been, and batteries from Cemetery Hill fired upon the brigade. 
The enemy being struck in the flank and rear broke at once, and 
pursued by Wilcox with Barksdale, on McLaws left, bearing 
slightly to the right. In this movement, a battery was taken 
by Wilcox 600 yards beyond the Emmettsburg road. Beyond 
this battery a second line of the enemy was broken ; and 
beyond this a second battery taken. Still Wilcox pushed on 
and at length, 500 yards beyond the Emmettsburg road, he 
reached the foot of the ridge or crest, upon which were the last 
of the enemy's batteries, and behind which lay more of the ene- 
my's infantry. Here he reported his successes to the division 



MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 503 

commander, and asked to be reinforced. While awaiting the 
answer to his request, the brigade drove back, twice, a line of 
infantry that came over the crest in front. But as this gallant 
and intrepid little command stood on the verge of a great victory, 
no reinforcements came. Previous moments were unimproved ; 
and at last, seeing no prospect of support, Gen. "Wilcox withdrew 
his command, and, as darkness fell, withdrew about 200 yards to 
the rear, and bivouacked for the night. 

In an official manuscript report of this day's action. Gen. 
Wilcox says : " I beg to assure the division commander that the 
conduct of both men and officers of the brigade was admirable; 
and, as stated above, the enemy's line resting on the Emmetts- 
burg road was broken and a battery taken, a second line broken 
and a second battery taken. This brought the brigade in the 
bed of a dry stream ; and on the crest of the ridge in their front 
was the last of the enemy's batteries, and in rear of it more infan- 
try. This infantry was twice driven back in their efforts to force 
my men back. The brigade was withdrawn, not heing able to 
accomplish more without support^ 

In the last day's action, when Pickett's division made itij 
desperate charge on the enemy's works, Wilcox's brigade moved 
at some distance in support, advancing over nearly the same 
ground as the day before, exposed to shot and shell from the ene- 
my's batteries. Marching out of sight of Pickett, and reaching 
the rocky and dry bed of the stream where he had halted the 
day before, Wilcox found himself obstructed by a heavy fire ; and 
while engaged with a movement of the enemy in his front, appa- 
rently to envelope his command, he was informed of Pickett's 
repulse, and fell back, Mdthout having participated in the main 
action which closed the day. 

In any review of the great battle of Gettysburg, we must take 
into account the high spirits of the Confederate army which had 
risked an attack against the most enormous advantages of the 
enemy. They were fresh from fields of victory. A powerful 
Federal army intrcnclied at Chancellorsville had been easily 
routed ; the Sixth Corps (Sedgwick) and part of the Second bad been 
whipped at Salem Church by an insignificant force; Ewell had 
swept up everything in the Valley of Virginia, and Confederate 
troops had come to think that they were invincible. But Gettys- 



504 MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 

bnrg was barely lost. Wilcox' brigade, as we have seen, had on 
the 2d Julj reached the foot of a ridge on which was the last gun 
of the enemj. It is not improbable that one more brigade, fol- 
lowing "Wilcox at this point, would have broken the lines easily 
and might have given the victory to the Confederates, In An- 
derson's division (to which Wilcox' brigade belonged) were two 
brigades stronger than Wilcox — Mahone'sYirginians and Posey's 
Mississippians. Wilcox reported his successes and asked to be 
supported ; but no support came, and he withdrew tlio next day. 
The correspondent of the London Times, in a letter describing 
Gettysburg, said that the Confederates had it their own way on 
the 2d July, had they have known it. The remark was tliought 
to have reference to affairs on the part of the line where Wilcox 
had fought. After the battle, and when the Confederate army 
had recrossed the Potomac, there were severe criticisms on Gen. 
K. H. Anderson, for not supporting Wilcox' and Wright's bri- 
gades on the second day ; and letters were published by Gens. Ma- 
hone and Posey, in which it was stated that they " obeyed orders, 
and that they were ordered to advance only if the successes of 
the brigades on their right would warrant it," and " that they did 
not think that the success did warrant it." 

Col. Freemantle, of the British army, who was a spectator on 
the fieldof Gettysburg, and in his observations of the war wrote 
an interesting account of the battle, describes Gen. Wilcox in the 
third day's fight as an ofiicer " wearing a short round jacket and 
a much battered straw hat" riding up to Gen. Lee with tears in 
his eyes, and pointing lugubriously to the condition of his brigade ; 
and Gen. Lee is reported to reply, " never mind. General ; this 
is all my fault, and you, young men, must help me out of it." 
The picture is perhaps correct ; but the language of Gen. Wilcox 
is too broadly reported. What he did sa}^ was that he did not 
like to make a disagreeable report, but that there was no pro- 
tection to the great number of batteries on the Emmettsburg road 
but his single brigade, which was very much reduced in numbers. 
At this time Pickett's division had been repulsed, and did not 
appear again on the field, but was reformed several miles in the 
rear. It was a critical moment ; an attack from the enemy was 
expected ; and it was in view of this desperate prospect that Gen. 
Wilcox approached the Commanding General, who spoke, almost 



MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. "WILCOX. 505 

exactly word for word, as the British journalist has reported 
him. 

An amusing anecdote, related by Gen. "Wilcox, relieves the 
story of his hard fight at Gettysburg, and may be inserted here. 
A few days before the battle, Longstreet's and part of Hill's 
corps were resting near the town of Fayetteville. While lying 
here Gen. Wilcox published an order against all marauding, and 
forbidding the men to leave camp to hunt poultry, fruit, &c.,lest 
they should be "gobbled up" by the militia with wliicli the 
country swarmed. A member of the lOtli Alabama regiment, one 
Pat Martin, had been detailed as teamster at the General's head- 
quarters, with the view no doubt of keeping him out of the peril 
of battle, as he was a young and nice little fellow whom it seem- 
ed a pity to expose to war's rude and bloody usages. The day 
following his order i*eferred to, the General espied Pat Martin 
slipping tlirough the woods and bushes near his head-quarters 
with a string of fine chickens in his hand. He spoke to the little 
fellow harshly for his disobedience of orders, and ordered as a 
punishment that he should return at once to his regiment. A few 
days thereafter and tlie General was in the thick of the fight at 
Gettysburg, When he struck the enemy on the Emraettsburg 
road, he found himself, as we have already seen, in the midst of 
a terrible fire; several batteries on Cemetery Hill were playing 
upon his command ; the shells were flying thick and fast, the 
General had one courier killed by his side and another wounded, 
the reins of his bridle were cut by bullets, and his alarmed hoi'se 
was rearing and plunging, and had become almost unmanageable. 
Just at this moment he caught sight of little Pat Martin, who 
advanced towards him, halted a squad of sixteen Federal prison- 
ers he was conducting, formed them and faced to the front, and, 
saluting the astonished General with an air of triumph or revenge, 
said : " Here are your chickens^ Sir." 

On the 9th August, 1863, Wilcox was promoted Major-Gen- 
eral, and assigned to the command of the division in Hill's corps 
that Pender had commanded at Gettysburg. It consisted of 
Lane's North Carolina brigade, five regiments, Thomas's Georgia 
brigade, four regiments, McGown's South Carolina brigade, five 
regiments, and Scales' l^orth Carolina brigade, five regiments. 
This act of promotion was but tardy justice to Wilcox, and the 



506 MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 

general sentiment of the army was that he had deserved it long 
before. Henceforth his name was more brilliantly associated 
with the Army of ]N"orthern Virginia ; and it is hardly necessary 
to make a distinct statement of a career which ran throngh all 
the operations of tlie main army, in the great campaign of 1864, 
and is bound up in its general history. 

From the Wilderness to Appomattox Court House, Wilcox' 
division bore its part and inscribed its banners with new vic- 
tories. Conspicuously engaged in the bloody battles of the Wil- 
derness, where, in conjunction with Heth's division, it forced the 
enemy back on the plank road ; fighting desperately at Spottsyl- 
vania Court House, where one of its brigades drove the enemy 
out of his lines ; making another gallant affair at Jericho Ford 
(May 24) ; distinguished in the action of Reams' Station (August 
25) ; repulsing a movement of the enemy towards the Boydton 
plank-road (Sept. 30 and Oct. 1) ; engaged in the last battles 
around Petersburg, and in at the last shot at Appomattox Court 
House, the record of Wilcox's division is an essential part of that 
of the whole army, and an adorned chapter in the history of its 
achievements. But from this summary record we must detach 
one incident that glorified the last days of the Southern Confed- 
eracy, and is generally related as having fitly closed, with illu- 
minated scroll, the career of the Army of Northern Virginia. 
It is the story of the defenders of Fort Gregg. Whose troops 
they were that gave this last example of devotion on Gen. Lee's 
lines had been subject to some doubt; but it is now certain that 
they were of Wilcox' command, and that the General liimself, 
in the eventful morning of the 2d April, gave the order by 
which 200 men, mostly of Harris' Mississippi brigade, with 
cannoniers for two pieces of artillery, were placed in this 
work. Tlie remainder of Harris' brigade were placed in Battery 
Whitworth (or Alexander), in which work were three pieces of 
artillery. These two small detachments of troops were ordered 
to hold these batteries to the last extremity, for these two points 
were all that now barred the road to Petersburg, since Long- 
street's forces had not yet arrived, which were to occupy the 
interval between the right of the Petersburg lines and the Appo- 
mattox River. Extra ammunition was issued to the men. As 
the enemy's long line advanced, the two guns in Gregg and the 



MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 507 

three in "Whitwortli opened on them. Their advance was not 
much retarded by this weak fire, and they soon got within reach 
of tlie mnsketry fire of both Gregg and Whitworth. The three 
guns in Whitworth swept the ground well in front of Gregg , but, 
as the enemy advanced, they were withdrawn without orders 
from Gen. Wilcox. The main effort of the enemy seemed to be 
directed against Gregg. He advanced boldly against it, and, as 
the glittering array drew near, men could be seen falling rapidly 
under the close musketry fire of the little detachment in the fort. 
Three or four times did the enemy stagger and give Avay. But 
the attack was constantly renewed. Six Federal flags were 
counted on the parapet at one time, and still the contest contin- 
ued. At last the little work was entirely surrounded; Federal 
troops, standing thick upon the parapet, fired down among the 
devoted men who still, with clubbed muskets, refused to surren- 
der ; and, when finally the flag of the enemy was secured on the 
work, it was found that not more than thirty of its defenders 
remained not killed or wounded. Such heroism has no parallel 
in the war. There had been nothing like it, no instance where 
a force so small had held in check so long such overwhelming 
numbers, and inflicted such losses upon the enemy. The Fed- 
eral General Gibbon, who commanded the corps that took the 
fort, told Gen. Wilcox, at Appomattox Court House, that it had 
cost him from 800 to 1,000 men, killed and wounded.* 

It is needless to repeat here any part of tlie sorrowful story of 
Gen. Lee's retreat. The painful stages, the desperate straits of the 
hard-pressed army have already been related. In the last scene 
in which it stood. Gen, Wilcox was conspicuous, having been or- 
dered to support Gordon in his fearful enterprise of forcing an 
exit to Lynchburg. As his division moved, and two of his bri- 
gades advanced to engage the enemy. Gen. Wilcox rode rapidly 

* Fort Gregg could be seeu some months ago, an interesting monument of the 
war. It was a lunette. Across its gorge, some fifty yards wide, was planted a pali- 
sade of pine posts, and in these were loop-holes to allow musketry fire in that direc- 
tion. On the other portions of the work was a deep ditch, and in it water collected 
from the rains. The parapet was too high to be surmounted from the ditch without 
the aid of ladders. On the right, dirt had been dug and thrown up, and it had been 
designed to connect Gregg with Whitworth. This, however, was not done, and an 
embankment extended some twenty yards, which the enemy mounted, and got thence 
on the parapet of Gregg. 



508 MAJ.-GEN. CADMUS M. WILCOX. 

forward to communicate with Gordon, and had barely reached him 
when a horseman was seen in the direction of the enemy waving 
a wliite handkerchief and galloping towards the Confederate lines. 
As he approached, he was discovered to be a Federal officer, 
and proved Gen. Sheridan himself. "Wilcox readily recognized 
him, as Sheridan had graduated at West Point when he was an 
instructor there. The latter asked " if it Avas true that there was 
a correspondence going on between Gens. Lee and Grant, with the 
view of suspending hostilities." Gen. Wilcox was about to 
answer in the negative, not having been advised of such a cor- 
respondence, when Gordon, who had just ridden from the front, 
spoke up and remarked that he had just been ordered to pass a 
flag, and forward it to Gen. Lee. Sheridan replied, "if that is 
the case we should arrest this affair at once, and have no more 
people hurt." He ordered his troops to be retired out of view ; 
Wilcox at the same time withdrawing his two brigades, and 
releasing some prisoners that had been captured by his skirmishers. 
Groups of officers quickly collected between the two lines ; many 
of Gen. Wilcox' old West Point acquaintances rode forward to 
greet him, among whom were Gens. Gibbon, Griffin, Merritt and 
Ayres, and, as they awaited news of the conference of the two 
Commanding Generals, a free and pleasant conversation sprung 
up, in which present animosities seemed to be forgotten in recol- 
lections of the past and hopes of the future. 

This brief sketch of the militarj'' life of Gen. "\\^ilcox, shows 
him constantly identified with the Army of Northern Yirginia. 
His reputation in this army commenced early, never declined, and 
grew to one of the most famous names of the war. He was 
known to the last as one of the most gallant and intrepid officers 
of the armies of the Confederac}'. He had other distinguished 
elements of character and is not likely to be forgot or overlooked 
in the changes which have ensued upon the close of the war. 
Unimpeachable habits, integrity of aim and purpose, capacity 
and cultivation of the highest order, assure the reputation of the 
past, and promise, even in new walks of life, a brilliant destiny. 



MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT. 



CHAPTER XLY. 



His gallantry in the Mexican "War. — Spirited action of Capt. Pickett in the " San 
Juan Difficulty." — Position of the State of Virginia in the Sectional Controversies. 
— Pickett's early appointments in the Confederate States Service. — The " Game- 
Cock Brigade," in Longstreet's Division. — Memorable and heroic action of 
Pickett's Division at Gettysburg. — Account of it in the Richmond Enquirer. — 
Gen. Pickett's expedition on the North Carolina Coast. — Ilis return to Petersburg. 
— How " The Cockade City " was narrowly saved. — Operations around Peters- 
burg.— Gen. Lee's Compliment to Pickett's men. — The Battle of Five Forks. — 
The suppi-essed ofiScial report of Gen. Pickett. — His last tribute to his troops. — 
Historical glory of " The Virginia Division." 

GrEOPvGE E. Pickett is the eldest son of the late Col. Robert 
Pickett, of Turkey Island, in the county of Henrico, Virginia. 
He was born in the city of Richmond ; entered West Point in 
June, 1842, and graduated in June, 1846. In the autumn of this 
year he was assigned to duty, with the rank of brevet second 
lieutenant, and joined the United States army then in Mexico. 
The celebrated battles of Gen. Taylor had been fought before his 
arrival ; but in the winter following, the command, to which Lieut. 
Pickett belonged, joined the expedition of Gen. Scott against the 
city of Vera Cruz. From Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, Pick- 
ett served as second lieutenant in the 8th Infantry, Worth's com- 
mand, and was noticed in the reports of Gen. Scott for his gallant 
conduct in the battles of Contreras, Cherubusco, Molino Del Rey, 
and Chapultepec. He was brevetted first lieutenant for gallantry 
at Contreras, and, "for gallant and meritorious conduct" at Cha- 
pultepec, he received the rank of captain. 

After the close of the Mexican War, and until 1861, Capt. 



510 MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E, PICKEIT. 

Pickett was on duty in Texas, and in New Mexico, Oregon and 
Washington Territories. Before the great war between North and 
Soutli bursted upon the attention of the world and gave another 
and largest date to the military annals of America, the name of 
Capt. Pickett was actively and very honourably associated with 
an interesting historical incident. In March, 1855, he had been 
appointed captain in the 9th Infantry. In 1859 the American 
settlers on the island of San Juan complained to Gen. Harney, 
who commanded the department of Oregon and Washington, of 
outrages by the Indians, and aggressioas threatened by the British. 
A great excitement was occasioned ; there was every appearance 
of a serious complication with the British Government; and Capt. 
Pickett was ordered to take military possession of the iskind, as an 
initiatory measure of what might become a state of war. The 
order was promptly obeyed, and a camp was formed with a force 
of about sixty United States troops. 

In this position Capt. Pickett was found by three vessels of 
war sent by the British Governor Douglas to enforce bis authority. 
These vessels anchored with their broadsides commanding his 
camp ; and Pickett was " warned off" the island, and then sum- 
moned before a British magistrate. He took no notice of these 
communications. After some parley, a proposition was made to 
land from the vessels a force equal to his own ; and to this he was 
asked to accede in the sense of a joint military occupation of the 
island. In obedience to his orders, Capt. Pickett declined the 
proposal, and declared his purpose, to fire upon the British force 
if a landing was attempted. The impending collision was pre- 
vented by the timely arrival of Admiral Baynes, by whbse order 
the commencement of hostilities was postponed. 

The arrival of Lieut. Col. Casey with reinforcements soon fol- 
lowed, who took command of the island, as representative of the 
United States, and named his post " Camp Pickett," in recognition 
of the cool courage and daring of his brave subaltern. The diffi- 
culty was afterwards adjusted by Gen. Scott in proper person, who 
consented to the joint military occupation proposed by the British. 
Gen. Harney recommended Capt. Pickett for a brevet, "for the 
cool judgment, ability and gallantry he had displayed," and Presi- 
dent Buchanan instructed Gen, Scott to retain Pickett in command 
of the United States forces upon the island. These instructions 



MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT. 511 

were at first complied with, but afterwards, at the instance of Gov. 
Douglas, Gen, Scott thought fit to remove the obnoxious repre- 
sentative of American rights. He was, however, subsequently 
replaced in command by Gen. Harney, and remained at his post 
until 1861. 

The dark clouds of war which had been gathering over the 
country were now ready to break. The native State of Capt. 
Pickett had been called upon, in the name of the Government of 
the United States, for her quota of troops, to carry war and devas- 
tation into her sister States of the South. She had refused. Her 
every effort as peacemaker had been unavailing, her counsel 
scorned, her solemn protests treated with contempt. Virginia, 
whose people in the struggles of '7G had turned a deaf ear to the 
voices of Royal favor and patronage, and sprung to arms at the 
sound of musketry upon the plains of Lexington ; Virginia, whose 
sons animated with the love of liberty, inheriting from their 
fathers generous tempers and chivalric feelings, thrilled by the 
eloquence of the immortal Henry, made straightway march to the 
Heights of Boston, to aid the colonists of Massachusetts in strik- 
ing off the fetters of tyranny ; Virginia, whose colonists in the 
very beginning of her existence had appealed to their Mother 
Country for protection against the introduction of African slaves ; 
Virginia, whose honoured sons gave to the United States its Con- 
stitution, and whose ever true allegiance to the Union as it was, 
and as it should be, time and impartial history will vindicate — 
noio called in the voice of distress and anguish to her sons for help 
to resist the unjust and unholy attempt upon the part of these 
people, whose friend and ally she had been in their time of 
trouble, to subvert her government, conquer her people, destroy 
her every right, and strip her of her sovereignty. 

Capt. Pickett answered the call of his native State. He resigned 
his commission, and after delays, trials, and troubles — many, sore 
and grievous — reached Richmond, the then capital of the Southern 
Confederacy. He at once received a commission as Colonel and 
was assigned to duty on the lower Rappahannock. In February, 
1862, he was made a Brigadier in Longstreet's division of the 
Army of the Potomac. His brigade was composed of the 8th, 
18th, 19th and 28th Virginia Regiments, formerly commanded by 
Philip St. Geo. Cocke. This brigade and its commander bore an 



512 MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT. 

honourable part in the campaigns of 1862 ; at Williamsburg, 
Seven Pines, and Gaines' Mills, it showed such dash, courage, and 
spirit as gained for it the sobriquet of "The Game Cock Bri- 
gade," In the last mentioned battle (Gaines' Mills) Gen. Pickett 
received a severe wound in the shoulder, and was disabled for 
several months. He did not rejoin his command until after the 
return of the array from Maryland. 

Upon again reporting for duty, he was placed in command of 
a division, and soon thereafter promoted Major-General. His 
division was composed of the four "Virginia brigades under Gar- 
nett, Kemper, Armstead and Corse — officers who had won their 
reputation upon hard fought fields, and, except Kemper and Corse, 
educated at West Point and commissioned in the United States 
Army. At the first battle of Fredericksburg this division, though 
not heavily engaged, took part, holding the centre of the line of 
battle. In the campaign against Suffolk, Gen. Pickett and his 
command did good effective service, adding to their already rapidly 
increasing renown. 

But it was at the battle of Gettysburg that the crowning glory 
was won. In this battle there were displayed the most extraor- 
dinary courage, fortitude, and discipline. Two brigades were 
absent, and the division did not exceed 5,000 muskets. Yet this 
small force, advancing steadily over half a mile of broken ground, 
charged and carried the most formidable intrenchments of the 
enemy, under a concentrated fire of artillery and musketr}'', and 
would have maintained the position but for the failure of supports. 
The Richmond Enquirer thus commemorated the service rendered 
upon the memorable 8d day of July, 1863 : " The day preceding, 
Pickett's division had made a long and toilsome march ; at 3 
o'clock they moved forward to the field of battle, and were in 
position very early in the morning of that eventful day. During 
a considerable portion of the forenoon the division was exposed to 
the burning rays of a July sun, and the terrible shelling of the 
enemy's batteries. Thus, very much exhausted by intense heat, 
and seriously crippled by the enemy's fire, about 3 p.m. they 
were ordered to charge the heights. An eye-witness testifies that 
they formed into line of battle as coolly and deliberately as if 
forming for dress-parade. Headed by their gallant officers, the 
column being led by Gen. Pickett himself, they moved forward to 



MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT. 513 

the charge, across a plain, some 600 yards in width, subjected to 
the action of guns sweeping like a hurricane of death all over the 
field. The noble and gallant Pickett commanding, they pressed 
up to the ugly ramparts of the enemy. It is believed that a 
more gallant or heroic charge was never made on this continent. 
Pickett's division has been in the hardest fighting of this bloody 
war. It had borne itself well and nobly everywhere. But the 
crowning glory of these patriotic heroes was achieved in the assault 
upon the iron clad crest of Gettysburg. The lists of casualties tell 
in terms of truer eloquence the bravery and patriotism of that 
blood-stained and war-honoured division, than can any figures of 
rhetoric or poetry. Every Brigadier fell, and a long catalogue of 
colonels and other officers. The division went in from five to six 
thousand strong ; three days after the battle but fifteen hundred 
reported for duty. Well done, noble heroes, officers and men, 
your country will cherish the memory of your deeds and sufiering 
with a gratitude and affection which time can never obliterate ! 
Maj.-Gen. Pickett has well earned, and will no doubt receive the 
meed of his country's praise. Without meaning to disparage any 
officer or division, it is indeed a high honour to have belonged 
to Pickett's division, and to have fought under that gallant com- 
mander." 

After the return of Gen. Lee's army from Pennsylvania, in the 
summer of 1863, Pickett's division was detached from the First 
Corps, and Gen. Pickett placed in command of the Department of 
Virginia and North Carolina, with his headquarters in the city of 
Petersburg. While in command of this Department he was 
instructed to make an attack upon Newbern, North Carolina, then 
in possession of the Federal forces, and thoroughly fortified. His 
forces, scattered over the wide-spread limits of his department, 
were concentrated with secrecy and dispatch at Kinston, one of his 
out-posts, situated upon the Neuse Eiver, and pushed forward 
without a moment's delay. He moved in three columns: the left 
commanded by the dashing Col. James Dearing, the right by Gen. 
Barton, and the centre by himself, directed against the immediate 
front of the fortified town, where the enemy's works were strongest 
and most elaborate. The success of the expedition turned upon 
the result attending the attack to be made by the column under 
Gen. Barton, and his ability to carry the line of works in his front. 

33 



514 MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT. 

The movement of troops begun on the morning of the 1st Feb- 
ruary, 1864. The centre, composed of Clingman's and Hoke's 
North Carolina Brigades, and Corse's Virginia Brigade, swept 
everything before them, and advanced almost to the very fortifica- 
tions of the town. The enemy's advanced pickets were surprised 
and captured, the block house commanding the ford at Batchelor's 
Creek, stormed and carried after a sharp and determined resistance, 
and the camp, outside the fortifications, captured with considerable 
spoils, and a number of prisoners. The columns on the right and 
left meeting with unexpected and impassable barriers to their 
advance, failed entirely to cooperate. The delay was fatal to suc- 
cess ; reinforcements reached the town from below, and it became 
necessary to withdraw. The retreat was conducted in perfect 
order. The enemy did not venture to pursue, and five hundred 
prisoners and valuable stores were carried back in safety to Kins- 
ton. Although the expedition failed to accomplish its main object, 
it added to the reputation of Gen. Pickett. In its organization, 
conduct, and execution, he displayed the characteristics of an able 
commander. He showed that he possessed sound judgment, quick 
perception, dash, endurance and ability. His troops were held 
well in hand and under perfect command, and he controlled them 
with a master's hand. 

After Gen. Pickett's return to Petersburg, another expedition 
was prepared and directed against Plymouth, North Carolina, un- 
der the sanction of the War OfBce, but, as the writer of this sketch 
believes, upon plans proposed by Gen, Pickett. About the last 
of April, 1864, the preparations were complete, the troops in readi- 
ness, and the General and his staff just about to leave to assume 
the command. An order from Gen. Braxton Bragg, then the 
Commander-in-Chief under President Davis, directed that the 
command should be given to Gen. Hoke, and that Gen. Pickett 
should report to Richmond. Plymouth was invested ; its fall and 
capitulation had been flashed over the wires, and received with 
gladness and exultation. Hoke was forthwith made Major-Gen- 
eral ; but before Gen. Pickett had completed his arrangements to 
leave the city of Petersburg, the flags of the signal corps announced 
the fleet of Gen. Butler off City Point. No one but a resident of 
Eichmond at the time and an intimate of its official councils can 
imagine the shock of surprise and terrour that the apparition of 



MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT. 515 

Butler's forces in James E-iver gave to the Confederate authorities. 
It was one of the most perfect surprises of the war. Not one of 
the Confederate officials had counted on this auxiliary to Grant's 
movement; not even a speculative newspaper had imagined it; 
all eyes were turned towards the Rapidan, when attention was sud- 
denly called to the new and unexpected enemy at the back door 
of the capital. The south side of Richmond was almost undefend- 
ed ; Petersburg was apparently at the mercy of the enemy, and a 
large portion' of its people had already despaired of the safety of 
their habitations. Fortunately, however, for the Confederate inter- 
ests, the new comer who had fallen on such an opportunity had 
not the genius to use it ; and while Gen. Butler tarried in his dem- 
onstrations, a series of rapid movements changed the situation, and 
saved one of the narrowest fortunes of the war. 

Gen. Pickett was ordered to remain and defend Petersburg. 
The order appeared absurd in view of his forces. The only troops 
he had were the Washington artillery, almost unserviceable for 
want of horses, the militia, Bates's battalion of boys for "local 
defence," and a regiment of Clingman's brigade on the Blackwater. 
Not dismayed, alert and full of spirit, Gen. Pickett addressed him- 
self to his task. A troop of cavalry was improvised ; Bates's bat- 
talion and the militia were put under arms ; the artillery was sup- 
plied with horses, the defences manned, and pickets posted to the 
best advantage. On the night of the 6th May, 1864, Petersburg 
slept secure, with Butler's army at City Point and Bermuda Hun- 
dred, and a corporal and two men guarding Pocahontas Bridge. 
The next day the crisis was more clearly developed. Spiers, with 
his cavalry, crossed the Blackwater, and destroyed the Weldon 
railroad ; Butler forced the railroad communicating with Rich- 
mond ; and Gen. Pickett found himself apparently isolated, and 
his little army hemmed within the city limits. Then followed 
days and nights of unspeakable anxiety. At last the car-whistle 
announced the expected aid; Lieut. -Col. Dargan, with a portion 
of the South Carolina brigade, reached Petersburg, amid the joy- 
ous shouts of the people. This force was immediately sent to Port 
"Walthall junction, and, the following day, reinforced by another 
regiment of the same brigade and some troops from Drury's Bluff, 
it resisted successfully Butler's attack on that point. Wise, Hoke 
and Kemper soon followed ; the line upon Swift Creek was taken; 



516 MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT. 

Gen. Beauregard arrived, and to him Gen. Pickett turned over 
the command, which he had held so many anxious days and nights 
with the most remarkable fortitude and vigilance. "The Cockade 
City " was safe ! 

Cheated of a prize which he had not the hardihood to essay. 
Gen. Butler next turned his attention to the railroad, and, having 
sallied from behind his intrenchments, advanced towards it with 
the design of destroying the communication with Richmond. But 
Gen. Lee was prepared for him. The lines necessarily vacated by 
Gen. Beauregard, when he had to fall back and defend Petersburg, 
had already been taken possession of by the Federals ; but directly 
Butler made his attempt. Gen. Anderson was dispatched with his 
corps to repulse him. This was done most effectually — Pickett's 
division being with difficulty restrained in their impetuous ad- 
vance. The result was so satisfactory, and the exploit so gallantly 
accomplished, that Gen. Lee issued the following congratulatory 
dispatch : 

Clay's House, June 17 — 5^ p.m. 
Lieut- Gen. R. H. Anderson^ Commanding LongstreeCs Corps : 

General — I take great pleasure in presenting to you my con- 
gratulations upon the conduct of the men of your corps. I believe 
that they will carry any thing they are put against. We tried 
very hard to stop Pickett's men from capturing the breastworks 
of the enemy, but could not do it. I hope his loss has been small. 
I am, with great respect, your obedient servant, 

R. E. Lee, General. 

The position thus obtained was held for many months. But 
after Petersburg was invested, and the enemy had unsuccessfully 
attempted to carry the Confederate earthworks by assault, military 
operations, with one or two memorable exceptions, assumed the 
monotony of a regular siege. 

In the final act of the war before Petersburg, Pickett and his heroic 
men, figured with their accustomed gallantry, and kept to the last 
the integrity and splendour of their historical name. In the battle of 
Five Forks his division bore the brunt, and gave way only when the 
force of the enemy became overwhelming. The theory of this battle 
was an attempt of the enemy to turn the right and vulnerable flank 



MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT. 517 

of Gen. Lee's army by a force of about 35,000 infantry and cavalry ; 
to encounter which Pickett's and B, Johnson's divisions and a small 
force of cavalry were moved to the extreme right, and first struck 
the enemy within half a mile of Dinwiddle Court House. The first 
event was a success of the Confederates, The enemy was severely 
punished ; half an hour more of daylight and Pickett's men would 
have got to the Court House ; as it was, learning that the enemy 
was reinforcing with infantry, and knowing that the whole of Sheri- 
dan's and Kautz' cavalry was in his front. Gen. Pickett decided to 
fall back, at daylight of the 1st April, to Five Forks, a position 
he was directed by a telegram from Gen. Lee to " hold," so as to 
protect the road to Ford's Depot. 

This movement was made in perfect order. In the morning of 
the 1st April, the enemy pushed up steadily from the Court 
House, and commenced extending to the Confederate left. In his 
official report (which is in manuscript and has not yet been admitted 
into the historical records of the war) Gen. Pickett thus describes 
the principal action and disasterous close of the day : " Suddenly 
the enemy in heavy infantry column appeared on our left front, and 
the attack, which, up to that time, had been confined principally to 
our front towards the Court House, now became general. Charge 
after charge of the enemy was repulsed ; but they still kept bring- 
ing up division after division and pressing around our left. Gen. 
Eansom, perceiving this, took his brigade from behind the breast- 
works, and boldly charged the heavy column of the enemy, com- 
mitting great havoc and temporarily checking their movement. 
In this he had his horse killed^ he falling under him, and his Asst. 
Adjt.-General, the brave but unfortunate Captain Gee, was killed. 
The few cavalry however which had got into position gave way, 
and the enemy came pouring in on Wallace's left, causing his men 
to give back. Pegram had been mortally wounded, the captain of 
the battery killed, and many of the men killed and wounded. I suc- 
ceeded nevertheless in getting a sergeant with men enough for one 
piece put in position on the left, and fired some eight rounds into 
the head of the enemy's column, when the axle broke, disabling 
the piece. I had also immediately withdrawn Terry's Brigade 
from its position, and threw them on the left flank, charging over 
Wallace's men, forcing them back to their position. Even then, 
with all the odds against us, we might have held on until night, 



518 MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT. 

which was approaching ; but the ammunition was fast giving out. 
Col. Florence's regiment fought hand to hand with the enemy, 
after their cartridges were expended ; but it was of no avail, and, 
although the enemy's dead lay in heaps, we were obliged to give 
way, our left being completely turned. * * * Every- 
thing assumed the appearance of a panic, when, by dint of great 
personal exertions on the part of my staff", together with the general 
officers and their staff officers, we compelled a rally and stand on 
Corse's Brigade, which was still in perfect order, and had repulsed, 
as had W. H. F. Lee's cavalry, every attempt of the enemy against 
them. One of the most brilliant cavalry engagements of the war 
took place on this part of the field, near Mrs. Gillian's residence. 
The enemy made a most determined attack in heavy force (cavalry), 
but were in turn charged by Gen. W. H. F. Lee, completely driv- 
ing them off the field. This, with the firm stand made by Corse's 
men, and those that could be rallied at this point, enabled many 
to escape capture. Thus the shades of the evening closed on the 
bloody field." 

The men who escaped capture were assembled on the railroad ; 
their losses had been severe, several thousand having been taken 
prisoners. As night fell, Gen. Pickett with the remnant of his 
command took up his line of march towards Exeter Mills, intend- 
ing to cross the Appomattox river at that point, when he received 
orders by a staff officer to report to Lieut.-Gen. Anderson at Suther- 
lan's. In the following morning, while on the march, he found the 
road strewn with stragglers from Wilcox' and Heth's divisions, 
who informed him that the lines in front of Petersburg had been 
forced. He at once struck for the general line of retreat towards 
Amelia Court- House, where he reported to Gen. Anderson. After 
the affair of Sailor's Creek, the history of this retreat, so often 
referred to in this volume, became a dull, harsh record of occasional 
skirmishing and continual marching, day and night; and in its 
last stages Gen. Pickett reported to Gen. Longstreet, and continued 
to receive orders from him until the army was surrendered and 
dispersed. 

In his final report, officially addressed to Gen. Lee, Gen. Pick- 
ett thus epitomizes the deeds of the Virginia troops he had led so 
long, in language which his ardent and honourable regard for his 
men inspired, and to which history will add the commentary which 



MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE E. PICKETT. 519 

his personal modesty has withheld. " It is needless in this, my 
last report of the Virginia Division, to recall to the Commander- 
in-Chief the trials, hardships and battles through which they have 
passed. Baptized in war at Bull Kun and the First Manassas, 
under Lieut.-Gen. Longstreet's instructions, they continued after- 
wards to follow the lessons taught them on their various marches ; 
in the lines about Yorktown ; at the glorious battle of Williams- 
burg, where, with Wilcox' Alabama Brigade, they withstood the 
advance of the whole of McClellan's Grand Army, and absolutely 
drove them back ; at Seven Pines, where they were so highly 
complimented by Gen. Joseph E. Johnston ; at Gaines' Mills, Fra- 
zier's Farm, Second Manassas, Boonsboro, Sharpsburg, Gettysburg, 
and the engagements about the lines in front of Bermuda Hundred, 
Fort Harrison, etc., which came under the personal observation of 
the Commander-in-chief. The written and verbal acknowledg- 
ments of their worth from him, have been gratefully appreciated 
by them." 

The " Virginia Division," with such a record, will live as long 
as there is a pen to transcribe deeds of glory and living hearts to 
treasure the proud and tender memories of the past. The com- 
mand of Gen. Pickett was composed of Virginians, himself the 
product and representative of the best school of the Virginia gen- 
tleman. In it was gathered much of the best and most cultivated 
manhood of the State ; and men belonging to noble families, some 
with muskets in their hands, showed that superiour courage which 
belongs to the well-trained gentry of the Old Dominion, and proved 
themselves worthy of the blood which coursed in their veins. 
From their near countrymen the survivors of the command that 
fought at Gettysburg obtain homage, love, respect and admiration; 
from their enemies they need fear nothing but the weakest and 
vainest attempts at detraction, for there is a certain assured glory 
where stings of envy cannot enter and where shafts of slander fall 
harmless ; and we solemnly believe it would be as vain to dispute 
before the world, after the experience of the past war, the heroic 
character of the modern Virginians, as that of the old Romans, 
whom centuries have accepted as types of the martial and manly 
virtues. 



MAJ.-GEN. CHARLES W. FIELD. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

Services in the United States Army and at West Point. — Commands a Brigade in 
" the Seven Days' Battles " around Richmond. — Promoted Major-General in 1864. — 
Field's Division restores the Battle in the "Wilderness. — An unheralded victory 
on the Richmond lines. — Apocrypha of the newspapers. — Remarkable and 
brilliant appearance of Field's Division at the Surrender — What the Federal 
General Meade said of " the Rebels." 

Charles W. Field was born in Woodford county, Kentucky, 
in 1818 ; his parents having migrated from Virginia, his father 
being a native of Culpepper county, where the family had lived 
for several generations, and maintains to this day some honoured 
representatives. The illustrious Henry Clay conceived a great 
fondness for young Field, and was indeed a devoted friend of his 
father, but being defeated in his candidacy for the Presidency, he 
was in no position to serve the boy, who, however, through the 
solicitation of ex-President Jackson, secured a cadetship at West 
Point, which he had long coveted, being appointed " at large " by 
President Polk, in 1845. Being graduated in 1849, he was 
assigned to the 2nd Dragoons, Col. Harney, and for the five suc- 
ceeding years operated against the Indians on the frontier of New 
Mexico, Texas and the Plains. In 1855 he was promoted first 
lieutenant and transferred to the Second Cavalry, then being 
raised, A. S. Johnston, colonel, and R. E. Lee, lieut.-colonel. In 
1856, he was ordered by the War Department on duty at West 
Point, as chief of cavalry at that institution, and remained there 
until 1861, when he resigned his commission as captain, and, 
going to Richmond, offered his services to the Southern Con- 
federacy. 



MAJ.-GEN. CHARLES W. FIELD. 521 

His first duties in the war were quiet and obscure, he having 
been appointed to organize a school of instruction for cavalry at 
Ashland, near Richmond ; thence he was appointed to command 
the 6th Virginia Cavalry ; but it was not until Johnston's army 
abandoned North Virginia, in 1862, that he appeared conspicuously 
in the field. He was then made a Brigadier-General, and finally, 
falling into the command of an infantry brigade (all Virginia regi- 
ments), he was placed in A. P. Hill's division, and in that fought 
in the Seven Days' Battles around Richmond, Cedar Run, and the 
Second Manassas. In the last named battle Gen. Field was 
dreadfully wounded, and was actually confined to his bed for 
nearly a year. In February, 1864, though still on crutches, he 
reported for duty, was made a Major-General, and was assigned to 
Longstreet's corps, and to the division that Gen. Hood had formerly 
commanded. 

From that time to the surrender at Appomattox Court-House 
Field's Division was an honourable and familiar name. It was 
this division that mainly restored the battle in the Wilderness, 
when at one time it appeared that the Confederate right wing was 
gone, and Gen. Lee in desperation had offered to lead the Texas 
Brigade into action. "Go back," said these hardy soldiers, "and 
we'll show you what we will do." They did show it, they did 
repulse the enemy; but in twenty minutes two-thirds of this 
devoted brigade were on the ground, killed or wounded. 

When Gen. Lee fell back to Richmond and Petersburg, 
Field's division was withdrawn and sent to the north line of the 
James, to meet a demonstration in that direction. On the 14th 
August, 1864, while Gen. Field held a line extending from Cha- 
pin's Bluff to New Market Heights, reinforced by some brigades 
from Mahone's, Wilcox' and Pickett's divisions, he sustained a 
heavy attack of the enemy, which at one time broke through a 
a gap of two brigades in his centre. It appeared that everything 
on the field was lost, and that there was nothing to stop the enemy 
short of the works immediately around Richmond. Gen. Field, 
however, called upon his old division, which had never yet failed 
him, formed it rapidly in front of the enemy, dashed at his advan- 
cing columns, drove them half a mile, and completely reestablished 
his lines. It was a critical success ; it may be said to have snatched 
Richmond itself from the grasp of the enemy. Gen. Field's forces 



522 MAJ.-GEN. CHARLES W. FIELD. 

numbered about 14:,000 ; those of the enem j were not less than 
40,000, and the presence of Gens. Grant, Butler and Hancock on 
the field attested the breadth and seriousness of the enterprise. Yet 
this important and brilliant victory was scarcely ever heard of in 
Eichmond, a few miles away. The only notice of it was a para- 
graph in the Whig^ giving the credit to Mahone — who had never 
been nearer the battle-field than Petersburg, and who was even 
ignorant that a battle had been fought — and " hoping that his mod- 
esty would not prevent him hereafter from at least reporting his 
victories." Field's division was not even mentioned — a remark- 
able instance indeed of apocrypha, and the uncertainty of " the 
gazette" in heralding and distributing the honours of war. 

It was in the last days of the Confederacy that Field's division 
shone in its greatest and most peculiar glory ; for, to the very day 
of the surrender, it was remarkable that this body of troops was in 
prime fighting condition, compact and brilliant, partaking of none 
of the disorganization around it, animated by its glorious memories, 
and retaining its arms and spirit to the last. "We respond to the 
noble and touching pride of its commander, when he writes: " I 
am proud of my division, always was, but was never so proud of 
it as on that black 9th of April, when, for the first time on the 
retreat, our army was all together, and I could compare their sol- 
dierly appearance and numbers and bearing with the wrecks about 
me." On the 1st April, Field's division was about the strength of 
the others ; on the 9th he surrendered nearly 5,000 men — more 
than half Gen. Lee's entire infantry force surrendered in arms. 
Although it constituted the rear-guard on the retreat, and was thus 
constantly exposed, there was scarcely a straggler from the divi- 
sion, and but few captures. The division was composed of five 
brigades: Laws' Alabama, Jenkins' (afterwards Bratton's) South 
Carolina, Benning's and Anderson's Georgia, and Gregg's Texas. 
Jenkins was killed in the Wilderness, and Benning badly wounded 
there. At Cold Harbour, Law was wounded slightly, but was 
afterwards detached, and never rejoined his brigade. At Charles 
City road, October 7, 1864, Gregg was killed, and Bratton pain- 
fully wounded. 

Gen. Field relates a pleasant incident of the surrender. "While 
his division was at Appomattox Court-House, waiting to obtain 
their paroles, Gen. Meade, whose army was just in his rear, sent 



MAJ.-GEN. CHARLES W. FIELD. 523 

to request that Gen, Field would conduct him through his lines, 
on his way to make his personal respects to Gen. Lee, who was a 
mile in front. As Gen. Meade at the head of a large and brilliant 
staff passed through Field's Division, the men gathered along the 
route in numerous squads, attracted by the spectacle. The two 
Generals were side by side conversing, when Gen. Meade turned 
to Gen. Field, with the remark, "your troops are very compli- 
mentary to me." "How so?" asked the latter. " Why, those 
fellows there," — pointing to a group of soiled and grim Confede- 
rates — " say I look like a Eebel." " Do you take that for a com- 
pliment?" said Gen. Field. "To be sure I do," replied Gen. 
Meade; "any people who have shown the courage and spirit you 
have, must have their admirers everywhere." 



MAJ.-GEN. ROBERT E. RODES. 



CHAFTEE XLVII. 



Graduates at the Virginia Military Institute. — A civil engineer in Alabama. — Elected 
to a Professor's chair in the Virginia Military Institute. — Commands a Brigade 
at Seven Pines. — Gallantry at Chancellorsville. — Complimented on the field by 
Stonewall Jackson. — Killed at Winchester. — A touching tribute to his memory. 

KoBEKT E. KoDES WRS bom ill Yirginia, but was a citizen of 
Alabama when that State seceded from the Union. He was the 
second son of the late Gen. David Rodes of the city of Lynch- 
burg. He entered the Yirginia Military Institute as a cadet in 
July, 1845, and graduated with great distinction, July 4, 1848. 
His eminent qualifications as a scholar and a soldier led to his 
immediate appointment as assistant professor in the Institute, and 
he discharged the duties of this position with the highest credit 
until July, 1851, when he resigned, to enter the profession of 
civil engineering. 

In this new field he soon rose to distinction and, having 
removed to Alabama, he was appointed the chief-engineer of the 
Great Northeastern and Southwestern railroad, connecting New 
Orleans with Tuscaloosa. 

When the State of Louisiana was about to organize the Mili- 
tary Academy at Alexandria, the name of Rodes was presented 
to the Board of Visitors, without his knowledge, for the position 
of Superintendent of that Institution. The uncertainty of his 
acceptance of the appointment, and other considerations, led to 
the selection of the now notorious Maj.-Geu. Wm. T. Sherman. 

In 1859, the Board of Visitors of the Virginia Military Insti- 
tute, in the organization of the school of Applied Science, divided 
the Chair of Natural Philosophy, then occupied by " Stonewall " 



MAJ.-GEN. ROBERT E. RODES. 525 

Jackson and formed a Chair of Applied Mechanics. To this chair 
Rodes was unanimously elected, and, although the interruption 
of the war forced him to take the field, he was always regarded 
as professor elect in the honourable institution of learning where 
his own genius had been nurtured, and around which his affec- 
tions clung to the last moment of his life. 

He promptly joined the standard of his adopted State, Alabama, 
and raised a company of infantry of which he was elected captain. 
This company was incorporated in the 5th Alabama Regiment, 
and, on the organization of the regiment, Rodes was chosen its 
Colonel. He came to Yirginia in command of his regiment, in 
May, 1861 ; and his career soon gave evidence of the lieroism and 
gallantry, which afterwards immortalized the name of his brigade 
and division in the Army of Northern Virginia. Promoted to 
the rank of Brigadier-General at Manassas, his command shared 
in all the hardships and glory of the first campaign of Yirginia. 
At the battle of Seven Pines he led the charge upon the intrench- 
ed position of the enemy, and carried it with fearful loss to his 
brigade, he himself receiving a severe wound. His command on 
this field was composed of the 3d, 5th, 6th, 12th and 26th Ala- 
bama regiments and Carter's battery, making an aggregate of 
about 1,500 men. 

In the estimation of his friends, he won, on this bloody field, 
promotion to a higher grade ; but this honour was delayed to 
make his merits more conspicuous. At the battle of Chancellors- 
ville, as senior Brigadier, he commanded D. H. Hill's division, 
and it was his gallant charge, with his clarion shout, " Forward 
men — over friend or foe !" that broke the enemy's line. It was 
the most glorious incident of his military life. "With one division 
he drove before him the whole right wing of Hooker for three hours. 
He had fought under the eye of Jackson and won the last and 
characteristic applause of the great commander on the field 
of battle. "Gen. Rodes," he said, "your commission as Major- 
General shall date from the 2d May." The promise of Gen. Jack- 
son was studiously fulfilled by the government immediately after 
his death, and Gen. Rodes was promoted and placed in permanent 
command of the division he had so bravely led at Chancellors- 
ville. He continued to lead it with consummate gallantry and 
skill until the disastrous batte of Winchester, in the autumn of 



526 MAJ.-GEN. ROBERT E. EODES. 

1864, when he fell at its head in the execution of an attack against 
the enemy which promised to decide the day. He was struck in 
the head by a ball, and died in half an hour after reaching the 
hospital. 

Young, earnest, vigilant, intrepid, sagacious. Gen. Rodes was 
one of the most brilliant and valuable division commanders in the 
Army of Northern Yirginia. His loss was keenly felt ; a bright 
career of usefulness and distinction was before him ; yet he had 
already accomplished a name to be remembered, and he sleeps 
with honour in the soldier's grave, reposing in the bosom of his 
own Virginia. Truly, proudly and tenderly has Gen, Francis H. 
Smith, the revered scholar and honoured superintendent of the 
Yirginia Military Institute, written over the graves of the two 
men whom this school claims as her ornaments : " Jackson and 
Rodes, associate professors in the same institution, associate officers 
in the same army, each finds a resting place on the banks of our 
noble James, and Lexington and Lynchburg will henceforth be 
the Meccas of the patriot soldier in his pilgrimage of honour to 
the sleeping heroes of our Revolution !" 



MAJ.-GEN. ARNOLD ELZEY. 



CHAPTER XLYIII. 

A captain in the United States Army. — His surrender of the Augusta Arsenal to the 
State of Georgia. — " The Blucher of Manassas.'* — Services in the Shenandoah 
Valley. — Wounded at Gaines' Mills. — His successful command of the Department 
of Eichmond. 

Arnold Elzey was bora in 1816, in Somerset countj, Mary- 
land. He graduated at West Point, in 1837, at the early age 
of twenty, and was assigned to the Second Regiment of Artillery. 
He served in this regiment and in the line (never being on staff 
duty) until he resigned from the United States army, in 1861, to 
offer his services to the Southern Confederacy. 

In the first Florida war he bore a gallant and conspicuous part, 
as also in the campaigns of Mexico. He was at the siege of 
Fort Brown (tlie initiation of hostilities), and himself fired the first 
gun discharged in the Mexican "War. He served with distinc- 
tion through the entire struggle, and was brevetted captain for 
gallant and meritorious conduct in the battles of Contreras and 
Cherubusco. 

At the commencement of hostilities between the North and 
South, Capt. Elzey was in command of the Augusta (Georgia) 
arsenal, which was garrisoned by one company. He surren- 
dered to the State of Georgia, and by this act incurred the dis- 
pleasure of the Washington authorities, and was banished to 
Fortress Monroe. While at the Fortress, he tendered his resig- 
nation to the Government, and asked for leave of absence, which 
was refused. He then made his escape to Baltimore, immedi- 
ately after the secession of Yirginia, and offered his services to 
his native State. Procrastination in the action of Maryland 
through her Governor, made it necessary for him to leave the 
State. He went directly to Montgomery, was commissioned by 
President Davis, and sent to Virginia, where he was assigned to 



528 MAJ.-GEN, ARNOLD ELZEY. 

the command of the 1st Maryland regiment of infantry, tlien 
being organized. After the evacuation of Harper's Ferry, this 
regiment, together with the 10th Virginia (commanded by CoL 
Gibbons, — killed at McDowell), the 13th "Virginia (Col. and 
afterwards Lieut.-Gen. A. P. Hill), the 3d Tennessee, (Col., 
afterwards Brig.-Gen. Yanghn), and the Kewtown Battery, were 
organized as the Fourth Brigade of the Army of the Shenandoah, 
and Col. Elzey as senior officer was put in command ; leaving 
the immediate command of the 1st Maryland regiment toLieut- 
Col. George H. Stewart. 

This brigade was distinguished at the First Manassas, arriving 
on the field when the scale of battle had almost turned against 
the Confederate side. Colonel Elzey received the highest praise 
for his gallantry, and the skill displayed by him on this occasion 
in handling his troops, and was personally complimented by 
Gen. Beauregard, who termed him the " Blucher of the Day." 
Elzey was promoted to the position of Brigadier-General, to date 
from the memorable 21st July, and his brigade was assigned to 
duty in the " Reserve Divison " of the Army of the Potomac, 
(Second Corps) then commanded by Gen. E. Kirby Smith, 
and afterwards by Gen. Ewell. Gen. Smith was very seriously 
wounded at Manassas, while within a few feet of Elzey ; but the 
latter escaped injury, though exposed to the hottest fire. Elzey's 
brigade served as rear guard to the army, on the banks of the 
Eappahannock, after Gen. Johnston had moved the greater part 
of his command to the Peninsula, and was afterwards with the 
rest of the " Reserve Division " sent to join Jackson in the Yalley. 
Gen. Elzey served through Jackson's celebrated Yalley campaign 
—at Front Royal, Winchester, Bolivar Heights, Strasburg, and 
Cross Keys, on which last field he was slightly wounded and his 
horse killed under him. His wound prevented him from joining 
in the battle of the next day at Port Republic. The position of 
the Confederate forces at Cross Keys was selected by him, and 
Gen. Ewell frequently availed himself of Elzey's experience and 
advice during the engagement. The official reports of Jack- 
son and Ewell will show the high esteem in which he was held 
oy these officers. 

At Gaines' Mills, on the 27th June, 1862, Elzey's brigade was 
in the thickest of the fight, and sufiered heavy loss. Gen. Elzey 



MAJ.-GEN. ARNOLD ELZEY. 529 

was severely wounded bj a musket ball through the face and 
head, and was carried from the field. Captain T. O. Chestney, 
his Assistant Adjutant-General, was wounded through the 
shoulder ; Lieut. C. W. McDonald, Acting Inspector, was killed, 
and Lieut. Fields, who took McDonald's place, was also killed. 

After the recovery of the General, he was promoted Major- 
General, and was assigned to the command of the Department 
of Richmond which then extended from the James River to the 
operations of Lee's army on the Potomac. While in command 
of this department, he organized the "Local Defence Brigade," 
composed of the government clerks and workmen in Richmond. 
This force afterwards did good service in repelling raids of the 
enemy, which were of frequent occurrence, and the safety of 
Richm.ond on several occasions was determined by the avail- 
ability of this command. The capture of Dahlgreu ; the destruc- 
tion of a Federal gunboat in James River ; the defeat of Stone- 
man's, Kilpatrick's and Sheridan's attempts on Richmond, at 
various times, and the repulse of numberless raiding parties 
of the enemy, served to show the vigilance of Gen. Elzey while 
holding this important command. Gen. Lee complimented him 
in writing on the fine appearance and quick movements of his 
heavy artillery command, when ordered to distant parts of the 
department, and the entire forces serving in his command were 
always kept in efiicient condition. 

In the early months of 1864, Gen. Elzey was sent to Staunton 
to organize the " Maryland Line," and, after accomplishing all 
that could be done to that end, was transferred to the Army of 
Tennessee, where he was assigned to the command of all the artil- 
lery of Hood's forces. The peculiar organization of this com- 
mand (attached to separate divisions and brigades) prevented 
Gen. Elzey from exhibiting his talents, except on one or two 
occasions in the retreat from Nashville ; and the subsequent dis- 
solution of Hood's army left him without a command during the 
short time that elapsed between that event and the general sur 
render of the Confedera,te forces. 

Like many others of the military leaders of the Confederacy, 
Gen. Elzey has, since the war, betaken himself to the peculiarly 
retired life of a farmer, and has exchanged the sword for the 
implements of industry. 

34 



MAJ.-GEN. SAM JONES. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

Early military services in the field, at West Point and at "Washington, — Appointed 
on Gen. Beauregard's stafif. — Commands Bartow's Brigade. — Ordered to Pensa- 
cola. — Various services on the Western theatre of the War. — Commands the 
Trans- Alleghany Department. — Relieves Gen. Beauregard at Charleston. — Defence 
of Tallahassee. — Breadth and variety of his military experience. 

The subject of our sketch was born in Powhatan county, Yir- 
ginia, in the year 1819. His ancestors, the Joneses, Moseleys, 
and Gileses, were among the earhest English settlers in that part 
of Virginia, where many of their descendants reside to this day. 
Sam Jones, after obtaining the early education usually given to 
the sons of Yirginia gentlemen, graduated at "West Point in 1841, 
and for several years subsequent was assigned to duty in that 
academy as assistant professor of mathematics. On the 24th 
December, 1853, he was promoted to a captaincy in his regi- 
ment, and joined his company on the Mexican frontier at Larado 
(Fort Mcintosh), Texas. In 1855 he was appointed commandant 
and professor of engineering in the Georgia Military Institute, 
but resigned the chair of instruction after filling it for a few 
months. In the autumn of 1858 he was assigned to duty in the 
War Department at Washington, and was at the seat of the gov- 
ernment during the stormy and eventful sessions of Congress 
preceding the dissolution of the Union. On the secession of 
Virginia, he threw up his commission,* and transferred his mili- 
tary fortunes to the service of his native State. 

* Once for all, we may notice here a vapid and common remark in Northern 
newspapers with reference to the conduct of those army-officers born in the Southern 
States who resigned their commissions to take up arms for their native States, on 



MAJ.-GEN. SAM JONES. 531 

His first noticeable service was on tlie field of Manassas, 1861, 
in the capacity of Chief of Artillery and Ordnance on Gen. 
Beauregard's staff. On the day succeeding the battle, President 
Davis appointed him a Brigadier-General, and Gen. Johnston 
assigned him to the command of the brigade at the head of which 
the gallant and lamented Bartow had fallen. It was composed 
of the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 11th Georgia regiments, 1st Kentucky, 
and Alburtis's battery of Virginia field artillery. This body of 
troops afterwards did long and gallant service in Yirginia, nnder 
different commanders ; but as early as Januarj', 18G2, Gen. Jones 
was ordered to report to Gen. Bragg at Pensacola, and after- 
wards, on promotion as Major-General, had various commands in 
the West. These were without remarkable incident. He com- 

their secession from the Union. They have been flippantly and constantly accused 
of ingratitude, because it was said tliat the United States had educated them. But, in 
this regard, their gratitude was due to their States, and every motive of patriotism 
and generosity urged them to respond to their call in the hour of danger. To their 
States they owed their military education. The military school at West Point was 
common to all the States. Each had the right to send there a certain number of 
cadets, just as each had the right (now hke other rights denied them) to send a cer- 
tain number of Senators and Representatives to the Congress at Wasliington. Indeed, 
the cadets, with the exception of ten each year, who, by special act, were selected 
by the President, were taken from Congressional districts, and were nominated, and, 
in effect, appointed by their representatives in Congress. 

As for the political integrity of these resignations from the U. S. Army, it is well 
known that, while its officers meddled but Uttle with poUtics, they had their opin- 
ions as other educated gentlemen on the public questions of the day, and that a very 
large majority entertained the "State-Rights" theory of the government. They 
believed that the citizen of the State owed allegiance to the United States only by 
virtue of the relation of the State to the General Government. If Virginia had not 
(unfortunately, as it now appears,) ratified the Constitution and become one of the 
United States, her citizens would not have been citizens of the United States. But 
the action of the State controlled the citizen, no matter how strongly he disapproved 
of that action. It was plain to the ordinary mind that, when the interest and safety of 
her citizens demanded it, the State had the same right to secede from, that she had 
to accede to, the Union ; and that the action of the Convention which dissolved its 
connection with the United States was as binding on its citizens as the action of the 
Convention which made her a State of the Union. And this, we believe, has always 
been the belief of a large majority of the Southern people. Patrick Henry, Presi- 
dent Monroe, and others, who, as members of the Convention, opposed the ratifica- 
tion of the old Constitution, yielded to the action of the State as expressed by the 
Convention of the people. So in 1861, other Virginians, equally intelligent and 
patriotic, yielded obedience to the action of the Convention which they disapproved, 
and cast in their lot with their State. 



532 MAJ.-GEN. SAM JONES. 

manded a division in Yan Dorn's army, assembled at Corinth ; 
and, when Gen. Bragg invaded Kentucky, Gen. Jones was 
assigned to the command of liis base of operations, with his 
lieadquarters at Chattanooga, 

On the termination of the Kentucky campaign. Gen. E. Kirby 
Smith resumed command of the Department of East Tennessee, 
and Gen. Jones was assigned to the command of the Trans- Alle- 
ghany, or Department of West Virginia. This, though an impor- 
tant, was perhaps the least desirable command in the Confederacy. 
It embraced a very wide and vulnerable extent of countrj^, with 
a force wholly inadequate to its defense. The results of the war 
in that department had been generally unfortunate, and with the 
mass of the people, success being the criterion of merit, those 
who had commanded in that section of country had been regarded 
with but little favour. First, the gallant Gen. Kobert Garnett had 
been, with his small force, overwhelmed by McClellan at Eicli 
Mountain, and lost his life in an unequal struggle, while endeav- 
ouring to save his raw and undisciplined troops from destruction. 
Gens. Floyd and Wise, scarcely less hostile towards each other 
than to the common enemy, had been unable to hold the country. 
Even Gen. Lee, who was sent to command them both, failed to 
regain the lost ground, and it is no disparagement to him, but 
rather a reflection on the self-constituted critics, to say, that he 
left that command without that iclat with which he entered it, or 
the love and admiration he afterwards won and always deserved. 
Gen. Heth, who succeeded him, was unfortunate at Lewisburg, 
and during his administration the enemy penetrated still further 
into the country. Gen. Loring, eager to regain the lost ground, 
gallantly drove back the enemy, and penetrated into Kanawha 
Valley. But his troops were soon forced to retire and leave that 
rich country in the hands of the enemy. All of these officers 
were prevented from accomplishing what was so much desired 
by the lack of anything approaching an adequate force, and the 
same insuperable difficulty was in the way of Gen. Jones, and his 
successor, Gen. Breckenridge. 

On this adverse theatre of the war, Gen. Jones achieved what 
must be regarded, in the light of all the circumstances, as won- 
derful successes. He encountered the famous raid of Averill, and 
brouglit to nought its main purposes ; he frustrated Gen. Burn- 



MAJ.-GEN. SAM JONES. 533 

side's projected invasion of South-western Virginia, and by the 
detention of this force of the enemy in East Tennessee withheld 
it from Chickaraauga and contributed to the great victory of the 
Confederates there ; and he saved the invahiable Salt works and 
the Virginia and Tennessee railroad without forcing Gen, Lee to 
the necessity of making large detachments from his army to con- 
front the enemy in this part of the State. For fifteen months he 
encountered and overcame every effort of the enemy within the 
limits of his department, and when he relinquished the command 
to Gen. Breckenridge, in March, 1864, his troops held all the ter- 
ritory they occupied when he assumed it. 

On the 19th April, 186-1, Gen. Jones reached Charleston, and 
relieved Gen. Beauregard in command of that department, the 
latter having been ordered to Virginia. He commanded this 
department six months, under very disadvantageous circumstan- 
ces, during a critical period of the war ; and, when Sherman 
marched upon Savannah, it was mainly by Gen. Jones' exertions 
that Gen. Hardee's line of retreat was kept open to Charleston. 
The fall of Savannah having involved Florida and South Georgia, 
cutting them off from the Department headquarters at Charleston, 
Gen. Jones was assigned to command in the isolated district. He 
defended the town of Tallahassee against an attack of the enemy 
on the 6th March, 1865. A Confederate officer who took part in 
the defence, says : "The straits to which the Sonth was driven 
for troops was strikingly exemplified in this affair. Side by side, 
in the Confederate line, were two companies in curious contrast. 
One was known as the ' old men's ' company, from Quincy, com- 
manded by a distinguished Judge of the State, into the ranks of 
which no man under fifty years of age was admitted. The other 
was a company of ' Cadets,' mere boys, many of them not over 
fourteen years of age. Both did their duty well." On the 10th 
May, 1865, Gen. Jones surrendered his command under instruc- 
tions from Gen. Johnston. 

The military career of Gen. Jones extended to all parts of the 
Southern Confederacy, east of the Mississippi River. He had 
been entrusted with independent commands of great extent and 
responsibility. That in so large a military experience he suf- 
fered no considerable disaster is, indeed, remarkable. The dis- 
parity of the two belligerent forces made it impracticable to 



534 MAJ.-GEN. SAM JONES. 

retain in large departments forces adequate to their defence; 
they were drained to supply the chief armies in the field. This 
taxed, to the utmost, the energy and capacity of Department com- 
manders! Gen. Jones felt this keenly. In one of his last official 
letters, recommending certain changes in the military districts of 
Georgia and Florida, he says : " It will hardly be supposed that 
I make these suggestions simply to enlarge the area of ray 
authority. I have known for the greater part of three years now 
the anxious, harrassing and thankless duty of commanding in a 
large area of country without anything approaching the adequate 
means of defending it. I make the suggestions because I think 
that if adopted they will tend to promote the interest of our 
country and cause." He had, however, so administered the 
trust confided to him, that no territory had ever been won from 
him by the enemy, and the Confederate cause had never suffered 
a serious reverse within the limits of his command. 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON. 



CHAPTER L. 



Appearance of a new hero in the last year of the war. — Ancestral stock of John B. 
Gordon. — "The Raccoon Roughs." — The 6th Alabama at Seven Pines. — Personal 
heroism of CoL Gordon. — At South Mountain. — His bloody and picturesque figure 
on the field of Sharpsburg. — Geu. Gordon as an orator. — A soldier's commeutary 
on his eloquence. — His part in the Pennsylvania campaign. — A telling speech to 
Tankee women. — His counsels at Gettysburg. — His splendid action in the Wil- 
derness. — A night attack upon the enemy. — Gen. Gordon rides through the enemy's 
lines. — His glorious counter-charge at Spottsylvania Court-House. — His part in the 
Yalley campaign of 1864. — A novel and interesting version of the battle of Cedar 
Creek. — Gen. Gordon's plan of attack rejected or not executed by Gen. Early. — 
His position and figure in the last scene at Appomattox Court-Houso. — Review of 
his mihtary services. — A representative of the "Young South." — His admirable 
sentiment and advice since the surrender. 

In the last periods and declining fortunes of the war, a new and 
lustrous name appeared in the army of Yirginia, kindling the 
admiration and hopes of the people. It is well remembered how 
repeated, towards the last scenes of the war, was the name " Gor- 
don " ; and men who had watched for the successor to Jackson and 
prayed for " a day of their lost Dundee," declared that he had 
at last appeared in the fiery Georgian. The bright and growing 
light however was soon extinguished in the swift sequence of dis- 
aster, surrender and submission ; and the last sad story of the 
war, at Appomattax Court-House, was ended with Gordon in the 
front — Gordon and his 2,000 men prepared to cut through the 
enemy, arming to die, willing to give to the Army of Northern 
Yirginia its last example of desperate courage, its dying testi- 
mony of devotion. It was not permitted. And it was not nec- 
essary. In these last days, Gordon was the thunderbolt of the 



536 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON. 

Army of Northern Yirginia ; his name was familiar in every circle 
of admiration ; and yet it was a novel name to those who used 
it most familiarly, and men, regarding the new hero as a sort 
of apparition, scarcely knew his former military life, or remem- 
bered the slow and painful steps of the young officer commencing 
at the early part of the war the ladder of fiime, and climbing it 
almost unnoticed, until the popular shout hailed him in the last 
stages of his adventure. 

It is our task to go back to the commencement of this career, and 
to present, in a summary sketch, the military life of this remark- 
able man. John B. Gordon was born in Upson County, Georgia, 
February 6, 1832. The fiimily is descended from the Gordons 
of Scotland ; came to America shortly before the Revolution of 
1776, and made its mark in the eight years' war. The grand- 
father of the subject of our sketch volunteered in the Continental 
army at fourteen years of age, and served through the entire war. 
One of his brothers distinguished himself by a singular feat in 
the battle of King's Mountain — rushing in charge upon the Brit- 
ish lines, seizing one of the officers by his queue, and running 
down the side of the mountain with him ! 

At the time the South ^vas aroused for war, John B. Gordon 
was engaged in some mining enterprises, and was living in Jack- 
son county, Alabama. When it was ascertained that Abraham 
Lincoln was elected President, he raised a company of cav- 
alry and offered it to Governor Moore ; but it was declined, as 
cavalry was not then needed. He then raised an infantry com- 
pany, styled "Raccoon Roughs," tlie men having been raised 
around Raccoon Mountain. This company was accepted as one 
of the ten to compose the 6th Alabama regiment, and Gordon 
was elected Major. The regiment was sent to Manassas, and put 
in Ewell's brigade, where it had no opportunity of action in the 
first great battle of the war, in July, 1861. Gordon was after- 
wards elected Lieutenant-Colonel, and when the regiment re-or- 
ganized at Yorktown, in April, 1862, he was by a unanimous vote 
of the men elevated to the position of Colonel. 

" Seven Pines " was the first serious engagement of the 6th 
Alabama. But in this single battle it made a record of glory 
sufficient for all time, and achieved the bloodiest and most bril- 
liant success of the day. More than two- thirds of Gordon's entire 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON. 537 

command were killed or wounded. The Lient.-Colonel, the 
Major, and the Adjntant were all killed. Every horse ridden 
into the fight was killed, the one on which Gordon was mounted 
being the last to fall under his rider. The terrible scene of death 
occurred when the brave Alabamians, having taken the Federal 
breastworks, were ordered to drive the enemy from a dense 
swamp, in and around which the timber had been felled, making 
an almost impassible abattis. In this charge, through a galling 
fire. Col. Gordon felt it his duty to ride at the head of his regiment ; 
although the foct, that he was left as the only mounted oflicer, 
drew the fire of the enemy's sharpshooters upon him. His horse 
had been shot in the breast, but was still able to carry him. He 
rode so near the enemy's lines that ofiicers and men distinctly 
heard the Federal command, " Bring down that man on horse- 
back," " Shoot that d d Colonel," etc. His noble animal at 

last fell under him, his clothing was pierced by three bullets, bnt, 
yet unhurt, he stood at the post of danger, and the men held the 
ground they had won, without a sign of wavering, until they were 
ordered to retire. His escape was almost miraculous, and he had 
survived in the midst of a great carnage. Out of 600 men, 396 
were killed or wounded, and in one company of forty there were 
only ten survivors. The men had fallen so rapidly that it was 
impossible to carry them to the rear, and, as they fought mostly 
in water several feet deep, men had to be detailed to raise the 
heads of the badly wounded to prevent them from drowning. 

In this fight, Gen. Rodes, commander of the brigade in which 
was the 6th Alabama, was wounded, and, although Col. Gordon 
was not the senior officer present, he was placed in command 
during the absence of Rodes. He participated in the seven days 
battles around Richmond, and at Malvern Hill was in command 
of Rodes' brigade, and led, the desperate charge upon the Federal 
batteries for half a mile through an open field. His brigade was 
first in the charge and left its dead nearer the enemy's guns than 
did any other Confederate troops. Nearly one half the command 
were killed or wounded in the terrible onset ; and the Colonel 
had the butt of his pistol carried away by a ball, the breast of his 
coat torn open by another, and his canteen at his side shot 
through by a third. So greatly did he expose himself, and so 
wonderful had been his escapes, that his men began to think, and 



538 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON. 

frequently said, " The ball has not been moulded that can hurt 
Col. Gordon!-' 

On Lee's march to Maryland, Gordon commanded the first 
Confederate infantry (Rodes' brigade) that crossed the Potomac. 
In the battle of Boonsboro, or South Mountain, he returned to the 
immediate command of his regiment, Gen. Rodes having taken 
command of his brigade at Frederick city. In this action, Gordon 
again distinguished himself. Gen, Rodes, in his official report, 
declared, " Col. Gordon handled his regiment in a manner I have 
never seen or heard equalled during the war." Of his conduct 
in the fight Gen. D. 11. Hill reported that, " Col. Gordon, the Chris- 
tian hero, excelled his former deeds at Seven Pines and in the 
battles around Richmond. Our language is not capable of 
expressing a higher compliment." 

But it was reserved for this heroic commander, on the closely 
subsequent field of Sharpsburg, to give a surpassing and sublime 
evidence of devotion, to show a Roman spirit, such as has been 
scarcely equalled in any patriotic struggle of modern times. In 
the disposition for the battle, Gordon's regiment occupied a salient 
in the Confederate line. It was his habit, before taking his men 
into action, to make a few remarks, designed to act upon their 
imaginations and rafse their enthusiasm ; and, indeed, he was a 
remarkable orator, if the test of eloquence is the effect produced. 
As Gen. D. H. Hill was riding along the line just before the fight 
began, looking with evident concern at weak portions of it, 
Gordon, anxious to strengthen his men in their determination to 
hold their position, exclaimed: "Gen. Hill, you need not fear 
for this portion of the line. These men are going to stay here." 
The men caught the spirit of the words, and the assurance was 
carried along the line, " Yes, we have come to stay." Alas ! little 
did the poor fellows know the dread significance of these words, 
and how many of them were to stay on that ground, locked in 
death's embrace ! 

And now commenced a slaughter at which the imagination 
recoils. Line after line of the enemy was repulsed by the gallant 
regiment, with a devouring fire both on its front and right flank. 
Only six men from the whole right wing of the regiment escaped ; 
all the others, officers and men, were killed or wounded. Col. 
Gordon was wounded twice, early in the fight, two balls passing 



* MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON". 539 

through his right leg, but he refused to leave the field. An hour 
later, he was shot again, a ball passing through his left arm, and 
making a hideous and most painful wound, mangling the tendons 
and muscles, and severing a small artery. He bled rapidly, his 
arm was completely disabled, and his whole system greatly 
shocked. A little while and another ball penetrated his shoul- 
der, leaving its base in the wound. This was a terrible and 
almost fatal shock to his already weakened powers, but he yet 
persisted in remaining on the field, and, haggard and bloody, 
turned to his men and waved them on to the fight. Even in 
their own peril, the troops were more anxious about their com- 
mander ; they saw his gray uniform almost crimson from the 
blood of so many wounds, and they heard him declare that he 
would not leave them as long as he had strength to utter a word of 
command. He had taken the idea that all his men were to be 
killed or wounded, and he determined to share the patriotic sacri- 
fice. At last the fifth ball struck him, passed entirely through 
the left cheek, and brought him senseless to the ground. Besides 
the five balls which seriously wounded him, two had cut his 
clothes, one passing through his cap, the other through his pocket, 
indenting the steel clasp of his purse ; and a third one had struck 
him on the breast, making a severe bruise. The courage that had 
thus defied death, and kept the field with five unstaunched wounds, 
was sublime ; and the characters of heroic resolution were written, 
clear and stern to the last, in the pale face stained with blood. 

He fell near the lines of the enemy and was for a brief time 
unnoticed. Describing to a friend his sensations as he awoke to 
consciousness, Col. Gordon said : " While lying on the ground, 
my thoughts were curious. I imagined that a shell had carried 
away about half of my head, and I discussed with myself the 
question whether I was a dead or living 'rebel.' I reasoned thus : 
' if you are dead, you can't move a limb ; if you are not dead, 
you should be able to draw up your right leg.' For no other 
reason than to test the question I was thus discussing, I made an 
effort and moved one of my legs. It brought me into full pos- 
session of my senses, when I scrambled back towards my men, 
and was carried to tlie rear by some of them." 

For several months his life hung by a thread. He had been 
conveyed to Winchester, where his devoted wife, who hovered 



5-10 MAJ.-GEN, JOHN B. GORDON". 

near him like a guardian angel througliout the entire war, was 
soon by his bed-side to administer to his comfort, and with her 
own hands to bathe and dress his many wounds. His friends and 
surgeons liad but little hope of his recovery ; but he never des- 
paired. He studied to be cheerful, and when so weak that he 
could not speak above a whisper, he was making playful remarks 
to cheer his anxious wife, who could ill-conceal the agony of 
mind she was suffering on his account. It was his unfailing 
spirits, with the assiduous nursing of tender and affectionate 
hands, that effected his recovery, and restored him to his country's 
service. 

In his report of the battle of Sharpsburg, Gen. D. H. Hill 
characterizes Col. Gordon as the " Chevalier Bayard of the army," 
His gallantry did not escape the notice of the government, and 
he was made a Brigadier-General, after his recovery, in April, 
1863, and placed in command of the Georgia brigade formerly 
commanded by Gen. A. R. Lawton. The effect of his fine dis- 
cipline was soon recognized and noticed in the reports of inspect- 
ors. In little more than a month, from the time he took com- 
mand, he fought at Marye's Hill in front of Fredericksburg, and 
retook the heights by a brilliant charge. It was here he made a 
stirring speech to his men, the effect of which is described in an 
anecdote, characteristic of the Southern soldier. After the action, 
one of the men remarked, in a very serious manner, that he never 
wished to hear Gen. Gordon speak before a battle any more. 
""Why?" asked his comrades. "Because he makes me feel like 
I could storm h — 11." It was only true eloquence that could 
have extorted so peculiar and unaffected a tribute to its power. 

In the outset of the Pennsylvania campaign, Gen. Gordon 
was with Ewell at the capture of Milroy's forces in Winchester. 
Here he made a handsome charge in the evening previous to the 
evacuation of the fort, and he was moving his troops to storm 
the fort itself, when it was discovered to be evacuated. He 
crossed into Maryland, and moved in front of the Confederate 
army on the Gettysburg, Yorkville, and Wrightsville pike. 
Entering York with his troops, he found the population in great 
alarm, dreading all manner of outrages, and the women and chil- 
dren making preparations for flight. He rode quietly up to a 
crowd, composed mostly of frightened women, and made them 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GOEDON". 541 

au address reported as follows : " Ladies, this to you is a sad 
sight — an invading army in your midst. But it is just what our 
wives, mothers, and sisters have been looking on for several 
years. You appear frightened. Yon have been told that ' rebels ' 
are demons, and you are expecting these men to destroy your 
property, and to insult you in your streets. I am their com- 
mander, and I wish to assure you that, ragged and war-worn as 
you see them, they are nevertheless gentlemen. They do not 
come in your midst to burn houses and terrify women and chil- 
dren. It is true you might reasonably expect such conduct in 
retaliation for what they witnessed on their march through the 
Valley of Virginia — wagon-loads of women and children driven 
from their own homes, and allowed but sixty pounds of their 
property. Even this morning I read in the Philadelphia Enquirer 
of the burning of Darien, in Georgia, the home of some of these 
very men you look upon. These facts are calculated to infuriate 
them, and. as I said, you might reasonably expect from them 
retaliation. But they have come to fight your armies^ and not 
defenceless women and children. I pledge you that not one pri- 
vate dwelling will be burned or robbed ; and so well do I know 
these men, that I may safely promise the head of any one of 
them who insults a lady ! " 

Leaving York, with its people wondering at the courtesy of 
" the mild-mannered rebels," Gen. Gordon moved on to Wrights- 
ville, on the Susquehanna river, and, by a flank movement on the 
enemy's intrenched position, caused its evacuation. The Federals 
fled, and fired the bridge after they had crossed the river. The 
flames were communicated to adjoining buildings, and the whole 
town would have been reduced to ashes but for the generous and 
supreme efforts of Gordon's troops to subdue the conflagration. 
Although the men had marched twenty miles that day, and had 
been slightly engaged in front of the town, Gen. Gordon formed 
them in lines around the burning houses, and it was by their per- 
severing work, continued far into the night, that the flames were 
finally extinguished. 

Next day Gen. Gordon returned to York, and thence to Get- 
tysburg, to take part in the great battles fought there. On the 
arrival of Early's division, Gordon was sent in to support Rodes, 
whose left was being turned. He saw his opportunity, and, by a 



542 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON. 

bold and rapid charge, broke the line guarding the right flank 
of the Federal army, after an almost hand-to-hand conflict, and 
then struck the flank, pressed lieavilj forward, broke everything 
in his front, and turned the tide of battle. " It was a most bril- 
liant charge," as officially reported ; and the results showed an 
amount of execution greater, perhaps, than was ever accom- 
plished, in similar circumstances of the war, by the same number 
of men. Gordon left on the field, counted by the inspectors, 
more than 400 dead of the enemy. Taking the rate of wounded 
as six to one, there must have been 2,400 of these (among them 
Maj.-Gen. Barlow) ; and there were captured and turned over 
to the division-inspectors, 1,800 prisoners — the aggregate result 
being that Gordon's little command, not over 1,200 muskets, had 
put hors de combat 4,600 of the enemy in less than an hour ! So 
great was the success, that the whole Federal line had retreated, 
and Gordon was anxious to continue the pursuit and seize the 
heights, which the enemy afterwards so strongly fortified. But 
he was. halted by liis superiour officers. In consultation with 
senior officers at the close of the day, he advised an advance at 
once, and expressed an opinion that the heights could be taken 
even at that time. So strongly was he impressed with this con- 
viction, that at night he saw his superiours again and urged the 
movement, offering to lead the attack with his brigade. But 
other counsels prevailed, and the Confederates lost the opportu- 
nity of winning what might have been the decisive victory of 
the war. 

Despite the record of efficiency and gallantry we have already 
passed over, it was not until the momentous and vital campaign 
of 1864, that Gordon found his name familiar to the public, and 
conspicuous in the gazette. It was on the stormy lines of the 
Rapidan that he performed his chief part in history, and achieved 
his great renown. In the first day's fight he was in a position 
that drew all eyes upon him. On the 5th May, his command 
was on the pike leading from Orange Court House to Fredericks- 
burg. The Confederate troops in his front had been engaged 
some time, when they were overpowered and forced to retreat 
rapidly. Gen. Ewell rode up to Gordon, wdio was quietly mov- 
ing down the pike at the head of his column, and said, "Gen. 
Gordon, they are driving us ; the fate of the day depends on 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON". 543 

you." Gordon replied, "We will save it, General;" and imme- 
diately wheeling into line, he told his men what was expected 
of them, and ordered them forward, riding in their front. The 
charge was successful. He broke the Federal line in front, and 
then designating certain troops to guard the front, wheeled his 
right and left, and swept down upon the enemy's flanks in both 
directions, capturing many prisoners and one regiment entire. 

During the night of the 5th May, Gordon was transferred to 
the extreme left of the Confederate army. As soon as he had 
got his troops in position, and the light of day began to break, 
he commenced himself, to reconnoitre and to send scouts to 
locate the enemy's right flank. He discovered, early in the 
morning, that it rested in a large body of woods, and that it was 
assailable — indeed that it was only protected by a thin line of 
skirmishers. Gen. Gordon was eager to take advantage of the 
opportunity he had discovered. He rode forward, and sent 
scouts to ascertain if the Federals had any force in rear which 
would endanger his command, should he attack the exposed flank. 
Having satisfied himself on every point, he immediately applied 
for permission to make the attack with one brigade, supported 
by two others. He explained, in person, the situation, and sug- 
gested that the destruction of the entire right wing of Grant's 
army might be the consequence of a vigorous flank movement, 
other Confederate troops swinging around into the attack, as their 
fronts were cleared, and thereby making the movement one of 
constantly increasing strength. But his suggestions were not 
adopted until very late in the afternoon. Only a short time 
before the sun sank, he moved out with his brigade, supported 
by Johnson's brigade of North Carolinians. The probable effect 
of the movement, if made early in the morning, when Gen. Gordon 
first suggested it, may be judged from the success which attended 
it at dark. He struck the enemy's flank fairly and squarely. 
The surprise was complete, and the panic very great. The Fed- 
eral ofiicers endeavoured to draw out brigade after brigade, divi- 
sion after division, and form at right angles to the breastworks, 
so as to check the impetuous attack. But Gordon's men were 
upon them before they could be properly placed in the new posi- 
tion. He met with no check until some time after dark, when, 
in the confusion attending all night attacks, one or two of his 



544 MA J. -GEN. JOHN B. GORDON, 

regiments on the right faltered and gave way. But the other 
troops pressed on until the enemy's lines had been captured by 
Gordon's one brigade for more tlian a mile, nearly 1,000 prisoners 
taken, inchiding Brig.-Gens. Seymour and Shaler, and a complete 
disorganization effected in a large portion of the Sixth Corps of 
Grant's army. 

After the battle was over, and the pursuit ended by the dark- 
ness, Gen. Gordon, accompanied by a courier, rode to the front, 
to look after his picket lines. Passing these in the darkness, 
he rode into the Federal lines, which were in great confusion, 
exhibiting no organization whatever. He had proceeded some 
distance, when his courier said in a low tone, " General, these are 
Yankees." Paying no attention to the remark, Gen. Gordon 
rode on, when the courier said again, " General, I tell you these 
are Yankees — their clothes are too dark for our men." At this 
moment the General heard calls around him, " Rally here, Penn- 
sylvania Regiment." The critical position did not deprive him 
of his presence of mind ; he whispered to his courier, " Follow me 
quietly, Beaslc}'-, and say not a word." He had not gone far, 
when the colour of his uniform, or some other suspicious circum- 
stance, attracted the attention of the Federals, and suddenly 
there were calls, " Who are you ? Halt, halt ! " Instantly, the 
General threw himself down on the side of his horse, giving him 
the reins; and shouting, "Come on, courier," the two dashed 
through the brush and into the woods, escaping without hurt to 
horse or rider, though a shower of minie balls whistled around 
them. 

At Spottsyl vania Court-House, Gordon was a conspicuous actor 
in one of the most memorable and dramatic passages of the war. 
It was here that, put in command of Early's division (Early 
taking command of A. P. Hill's corps), he gave the first check 
to the enemy advancing after taking the salient held by Gen. 
Johnson ; and it was here occurred the affecting and noble scene, 
when he seized the bridle of Gen. Lee's horse, and refused to let 
him lead the Georgians and Virginians, placed m line for a despe- 
rate counter-charge upon the enemy. In the dark and misty morn- 
ing, Gordon had been guided to the point of danger by the volume 
of fire. Checking the enemy, and throwing his little command 
against the heavy tide of his numbers, he afterwards re-captured 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON". 645 

all the Confederate line to the right of the salient, some of the 
artillery lost in the morning, and held during the day the salient, 
and all to the right of it to A. P. Hill's line. A portion of the 
line to the left of the salient, where the head of Gordon's column 
first struck the attacking force, was held by the Federals and was 
never recovered. So thick had been the volleys of minie balls 
here, that a large tree was cut down by these missiles alone, and 
its stump yet remains as one of the curiosities of what, with refer- 
ence to its limits, was the bloodiest field of the war. 

After this battle, marked by its monument of carnage, and 
illuminated with so much glory to the Southern arms, Gordon 
took part in the various engagements of the two armies until the 
13th June, when he was sent with Early to Lj'nchburg, to meet 
Hunter, and afterwards to the Yalley of Virginia and into Mary- 
land. Elsewhere in these pages we have given the general nar- 
rative of the irregular fortunes of this campaign, so full of prom- 
ise at one time and yet terminating in a fatal disaster. Gordon's 
part in it, however, was equal to his reputation, and honourable 
throughout. It was his division that won the victory of Mono- 
cacy — on which Gen. Breckinridge congratulating him said, in 
presence of his staff officers: "Gordon, if you had never made a 
tight before, this ought to immortalize you." It was again his 
command — consisting of the old Second Corps, composed of 
Rodes' division now commanded by Ramseur, Pegram's and Gor- 
don's old division — that struck the enemy that almost mortal blow 
at Cedar Creek, and then, palsied by the command of superiours, 
had the mortification of seeing a brilliant victory changed to an 
irretrievable defeat. 

On the eventful 19th October, when Gordon moved around the 
point of Massanutton Mountain and in the grey mists of the break- 
ing day surprised the enemy, the situation at eight o'clock in the 
morning was this: two-thirds of Sheridan's infantry routed and 
scattered, leaving but one corps (the Sixth) unbroken ; two-thirds 
of the Confederates not engaged, and the one-third, which had 
been fighting, in the most excellent spirits, having suffered but 
little loss ; more than twenty pieces of Sheridan's artillery cap- 
tured, and none of the Confederate artillery engaged ; the 
loss of the enemy in killed and wounded and prisoners, 8,000, 
and that of the Confederates not more than 500 ; and, 

35 



546 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON. 

lastly, the Federal cavalry retreating before the Confederates, 
though but slightly engaged. It was in these circumstances that 
Gordon quickly decided on the destruction of the last corps of the 
enemy, by a rapid concentration of the entire infantry and artil- 
lery upon it. He therefore ordered two divisions, his own and 
Kamseur's, to demonstrate in front; he directed Col. Carter, com- 
manding the artillery, to mass his thirty-nine pieces upon the 
flank of the corps ; and he dispatched staif-officers to hurry Pe- 
gram's, "Wharton's and Kershaw's divisions to mass also on the 
flank — the design being, when the artillery had thoroughly torn 
to pieces the enemy's line, to make a simultaneous assault with 
three divisions in flank and in front. It \vas the skilful combi- 
nation of a good commander. As Gordon prepared to execute 
his plan. Gen. Early arrived on the ground ; he first explained his 
plans of concentrating everything upon the enemy's last corps ; 
lie urged his views, but they were not accepted by the Com- 
mandino; General : and from the time when Gordon returned to 
the command of his own division, a little after eight o'clock in 
the morning, until Sheridan assumed the off'ensive in the after- 
noon, the only demonstrations made upon the enemy were by 
detachments of infantry. What might have been the eflect of 
Gordon's combination and attack — thirty-nine pieces of artillery, 
three divisions in flank and two in front — may be fairly estimated, 
when it is known that Pegram, with one division and one brigade 
from Ramseur, without the aid of artillery, did attack the Sixth 
Corps in front, driving it back and capturing six pieces of artillery 
in the open field. 

But this was only a partial success and a deceptive triumph. 
The afternoon's operations may be described in a few words. 
Sheridan's army, rallied and re-assured, while the Confederates 
were losing the spirit of the morning and being demoralized by 
plunder, assumed the offensive ; and his cavalry pouring through 
a long gap between Evans' and Terry's brigades, to close which 
Gen. Early had sent Kershaw's division too late, broke to pieces 
these bodies of troops, and at last compelled the whole of Early's 
army to recross Cedar Creek in such disorder that the different 
commands were mingled together and lost their identity. It was 
a disaster which Gordon foresaw, against which he had contended, 
and come in conflict with the views of his superiour, and which 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON. M7 

liis plan of attack in the morning miglit not only have saved, but 
have erected instead of it a glorious victory. 

Keturning to the Army of Northern Yirginia, in front of Pe- 
tersburg, Gen. Gordon found but little opportunity to gather 
additional laurels in the declining fortunes of the Confederacy ; 
and it only remained for him to share bravely the fate, which, 
from overwhelming numbers of the enemy, had now become 
inevitable to that army which his courage, chivalry, and good 
generalship had so greatly adorned. ' Hi s part was heroic to the 
last. It was Gordon's command chiefly engaged in the battle of 
Hares Hill (March 25, 1865), where the troops " fought with a 
vigour and brilliancy that reminded one of Lee's old campaigns ;" 
it was Gordon's command that held the last lines in front of 
Petersburg ; and it was Gordon's command that in Lee's final 
and fatal retreat was at the front, and gilded the last scene of 
surrender with the spectacle of 2,000 men, prepared to cut 
through Sheridan's lines at Appomattox Court-House, and only 
stayed in the desperate enterprise by the flag of truce that con- 
cluded the hostilities of that day and signalled the close of the 
war. 

The military services of Gen. Gordon, which we have briefly 
noticed, constitute for him one of the first reputations in the war. 
But he appears even beyond this object of ambition to have won 
a peculiar regard from his countrymen ; he has been accepted, 
since the war, in some manner, as the representative of the Young 
South, and the writer has heard intelligent men freely designate 
him as the future military leader of the South should she ever 
again be called to arms in any cause of justice and honour. He 
is one of those who have clearly not terminated their career, and is 
certain to appear again in history. His fiery courage, his ardent 
sentiments, tempered by the highest tone of honour, and regu- 
lated by a strong and practical intellect, complete a character to 
be admired and trusted beyond that of most men. The regard 
of his countrymen has been abundantly testified ; and, in the 
year following the war, he was strongly urged by his friends to 
become a candidate for the nomination of Governor of Georgia. 
He declined the honour, and took occasion to address to his 
countrymen, in one of the most graceful compositions of words 
that have been penned by any politician, the most noble and 



548 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. GORDON. 

honourable advice as to the political attitude and action of the 
South. They are words to be commemorated by every citizen, 
and fit to be written at the termination of the career of every 
true Confederate soldier ; " Let us demonstrate to these enemies 
to trnth, to principle and sound policy " (the Kadicals of the 
North) " that the men of the South who have been ready to vin- 
dicate with their lives the honour of their section, and the cause 
they believed just and holy, are most reliable in their observances 
of plighted faith and truest to the principles of the constitution. 
Difficulties of the greatest magnitude oppose our political and 
material advancement ; but let us give ourselves to the task of 
overcoming them, with brave hearts, and wise, unremitting toil." 



MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 



CHAPTEE LI. 



A grandson of " Light Horse Harry." — A " wild " youth. — Tricks at "West Point. — 
Desperate fights with Indians. — His early services in the Confederacy. — Chivalrous 
incident at the Second I^Ianassas. — Services in the Maryland campaign. — Action 
of Kelly's Ford. — "With Jackson at Chancellorsville. — Reorganization of the 
cavalry commands in Virginia. — A complimentary letter from Gen. Robert E. 
Lee. — Fitzhugh Lee's division in the campaign of 1864-5. — Spottsylvania Court 
House. — YeUow Tavern. — Reams' Station. — Five Forks.— Conduct of the cavalry 
on the retreat. — Personal recollections of Fitzhugh Lee. 

Fitzhugh Lee, or "Fitz Lee," as lie was generally known 
during the war, was born at " Clermont," the residence of his 
grandfather, Gen. John Mason, in Fairfax County, Virginia, on 
the 19th November, 1835. His father is Captain Sydney Smith 
Lee, who resigned his commission in the United States Navy, 
and accepted one in the Confederate service, at the time of the 
secession of his native State from the Federal Union. lie was 
the third son of General Henry Lee, or " Light Horse Harry," of 
the Eevolution, and a brother of Gen. Eobert E. Lee. During 
the late war he commanded for a long time the important post 
of Drewry's Bluff, and was at its close chief of the Bureau of 
orders and details under the Secretary of the Navy. The mother 
of the subject of our sketch was a grand-daughter of Yirginia's 
celebrated statesman, George Mason ; a daughter of Gen. John 
Mason, and a sister to James M. Mason, so long a United States 
Senator from Virginia, and who represented the interests of the 
Confederate States in England during the war. 

The author has been able to obtain but few recollections of 
the boyhood of Fitz Lee ; but he strongly suspects that he was an 



550 MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 

unruly youtli. An old citizen of Fredericksburg testifies that 
his earliest recollection of the future military hero was habit- 
ually seeing him when a small boy, attired in a scarlet shirt, 
struggling and screaming on the back of a big black negro who 
was used to convey hira to school. It must have been a pictu- 
resque affair. At the age of sixteen, Fitz was appointed a cadet 
"at large" at West Point, through the favour of President Fill- 
more. As a cadet, he was classed wnth the " wild ones." Unlike 
his distinguished uncle, who never received a demerit, Fitz 
managed to get the maximum allowance within the bounds of 
a dismissal. It is said that, in order the better to elude the vigil- 
ance of the ofiicers and guards, he used to exchange his cadet 
grey for women's clothes, whilst his room-mate, S. "Wragg Fergu- 
son, of South Carolina (a General of cavahy in Gen. Johnston's 
army during the war), would dress in citizen's clothes with false 
moustache and beard, and the two, thus accoutred as lady and 
gentleman visiting the Academy, would pass and repass with 
impunity the prescribed limits. His term of service at West 
Point expired in 1856, and his having graduated at the head of 
his class in horsemanship, secured for him a commission as 
second lieutenant in the then Second (now Fifth) United States 
Cavalry ; a regiment eagerly sought for by a large majority of 
the class.* 

Fitzhugh Lee's first service was at Carlisle barracks, Penn- 
sylvania, whither he was ordered after leaving the Military Acad- 
emy, to report to Col. Charles A. May (who had made a great 
reputation in Mexico), to drill cavalry recruits preparatory to 
their being sent to join their regiments on the frontier. It hap- 
pened curiously that these same barracks were burnt during the 
war by the orders of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee. After a year's service 

* We liave repeatedly referred to this famous regiment, as commanded by Col. 
A. S. Johnston, with R. E. Lee as lieutenant-colonel. It contained other names 
which mounted to fame in the war, and was a singular galaxy of genius. Hardee 
and George H. Thomas were its majors. Earl Van Dorn was the senior captain, 
and E. Kirby Smith the next captain in rank. Oakes Palmer and R. W. Johnson, 
afterwards known in the war as general ofScers on the Federal side, were also cap- 
tains in this regiment ; and N. G. Evans, Charles W. Fields, John B. Hood, George 
Cosby, and James P. Major — the two first captains, and the last throe lieutenants of 
the regiment — afterwards rose to the rank of general officers in the service of the 
Southern Confederacy. 



MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 551 

at Carlisle Barracks, Lieut. Lee was sent to join liis- regiment, 
serving on the frontiers of Texas, and soon came into notice in 
the various conflicts with the Indians. He was the second-lieu- 
tenant of Kirby Smith's company, and when that company joined 
the celebrated and successful Wichita expedition, under Yan 
Dorn, Lee was selected by Van Dorn as his adjutant. In the 
battle of May 13th, 1859, between six companies of his regiment 
and a large force of Comanche Indians (the largest fight that had 
ever taken place between Indians and U. S. troops), he was cho- 
sen to command a picked body that charged on foot the thick 
jungle in which the Indians had taken refuge. He fell towards 
the conclusion of the fight, pierced through the lungs with an 
arrow, was carried out on the prairie, and for some weeks his life 
was despaired of. He was borne over 200 miles across the 
prairie, back to his post, in a horse-litter. He finally recovered 
from the wound, and regained his health, contrary to the expec- 
tations of his physicians. Gen. Scott, in published orders, men- 
tioning this success and referring to the commanding-officer's 
report, says : " Major Yan Dorn notices the conspicuous gallantry 
and energy of second-lieutenant Fitzhugh Lee, adjutant of the 
expedition, who was dangerously wounded." On the 15th Jan- 
uary, 1860, we find him again mentioned in orders by Gen. Scott, 
as having, in command of a portion of his company, had another 
fight with Indians, in which his rapid pursuit, recovery of stolen 
property, and personal combat with one of the chiefs, are all 
highly commended. 

In the latter part of November, 1860, Lee was detached from 
his regiment and ordered to report to West Point as an instructor 
of cavalry — a complimentary detail, and one eagerly sought for 
by the officers of mounted regiments. Under his tuition at that 
time were Kilpatrick, Custer, and others, who have obtained some 
fame since among their comrades. The commencement of the 
war found him at his post at the Military Academy, and upon 
the secession of Yirginia his commission as first-lieutenant in the 
U. S. Army was promptly resigned, and his services oftered to 
his native State. 

His first service in the Confederacy was in the Adjutant-Gen- 
eral's department in Gen. Beauregard's army at Manassas, and, 
at the battle of July 21, 1861, he acted in that capacity on the 



552 MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 

staft" of Gen. Ewell. In September following he was, upon the 
recommendation of Gen. J. E. Johnston, then in command of 
the Army, and Gen. J. E. B. Stuart, commanding its cavalry, 
made the lieutenant-colonel of the Ist Yirginia cavalry (Stuart's 
old regiment), and at the reorganization of that command, in 
April, 1863, near Yorktown, he was elected Colonel, receiving 
all the votes of the regiment except four. 

On the retreat from Yorktown, to Lee's regiment was given 
the duty of watching the York river, and he first gave informa- 
tion of the flanking movement up that river of Franklin and his 
landing at Barhamsville — personally reconnoitering so close that 
he gave not only the number but the names of the enemy's 
transports and gunboats. In the succeeding operations around 
Richmond, Lee was with the command of Gen. Stuart and par- 
ticipated in all the enterprises of that officer. About the middle 
of June, 18G2, Stuart performed his famous raid around the army 
of McClellan, as it lay in front of Richmond. Lee, with his 
regiment, was selected to accompany him, and shared, with one 
other regiment and a battalion, the dangers of that enterprise 
M'hich " blazed the way for Jackson's subsequent flank move- 
ment." After the battles around Riclnnond, more cavalry were 
brought from the South, and formed into a brigade under Gen. 
Wade Hampton. Stuart was made a Major-Gen eral, and Fitz- 
hugh Lee was promoted to the rank of brigadier, taking Stuart's 
place, the latter commanding the two brigades. Lee's brigade 
consisted of the 1st, 3d, 4th, 5th and 9th Virginia regiments, with 
a battery of horse-artillery under Capt. James Breathed. 

In the campaign against the Federal General Pope, Fitzhugh 
Lee's command, together with B. H. Robertson's brigade (Ash- 
by's old brigade), constituted the command of Stuart. Hamp- 
ton was left in the vicinity of Richmond, and joined the army 
afterwards in Maryland. The services of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee in 
this campaign were important and valuable, and were recognized 
by the Commanding-General in lively terms. Just before the 
second battle of Manassas a chivalrous incident occurred. Gen. 
Fitzhugh Lee had surprised and captured a squadron of the 2d 
IT. S. dragoons (regulars), and discovering some old comrades 
among the ofiicers, he merely took their word that they would 
not escape, and kept them at his headquarters as guests. They 



MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 553 

rode with his staff and himself, during a few days' subsequent 
operations, and were occasionally under the fire of their own 
men. Through the intercession of Gen. Lee, these captives were 
made an exception to the retaliatory rule against the officers of 
Pope's army, and were paroled. They were furnished with 
horses to ride to their own lines. 

On the night of the 14th September, after D. H. Hill's defence 
of South Mountain pass, near Boonsboro', and it was decided to 
retire him to Sharpsburg, Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, wlio had just 
returned to the army from a long reconnoissance, was ordered to 
relieve the pickets then in close proximity to those of the enemy, 
in order that Hill might withdraw undiscovered. This was a 
most difficult and dangerous enterprise. It was so admirably 
performed, and such was the vigour of Lee's opposition, that the 
enemy did not appear on the opposite side of the Antietam until 
the afternoon of the next day. 

After the battle of Sharpsburg, and when it was decided to 
withdraw the army to the Virginia side of the Potomac, Gen. 
Fitzhugh Lee was again chosen to relieve the pickets of the 
army, while it was withdrawn under cover of the night. It was 
a hazardous operation. Gen. Lee had to string his whole brigade 
out the length of the line of battle of the army, dismount his men 
some distance in the rear, and send them to relieve the infan- 
try pickets of the entire army, which were witliin easy hearing of 
those of the enemy. It had to be done in such a way that the 
enemy should not discover the change, but continue to imagine 
the whole Confederate force in their front. The Potomac rolled 
only three miles off, and there was but one ford, and that a bad 
one to cross. Should the enemy discover the ruse and advance, 
there was the difficulty of getting this brigade, in its scattered, 
dismounted condition, across the river to rejoin the army. Dur- 
ing the night of the 18th September, the army of Nortliern Yir- 
ginia was safely withdrawn to the south side of the Potomac, 
and, when day dawned on the 19th, in its place, confronting 
the whole army of McClellan, was Fitzhugh Lee's hrigade of 
cavalry ! It was soon in the saddle, and before McClellan could 
recover from his surprise had safely recrossed the river, having 
first given the enemy's advance a parting salute on the Maryland 
side. 



55-i MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 

The services of the cavahy in this campaign were remarkable ; 
and in tlie official report of the Commanding-General it was de- 
clared : "Its vigilance, activity and courage were conspicuous; 
and to its assistance is due in a great measure some of the most 
important and delicate operations of the campaign." In subse- 
quent operations near the line of the Rappahannock, Gen. Fitz- 
liugh Lee was active, co-operating with other portions of Stuart's 
cavalry in the attack on the enemy's rear at Dumfries, and in 
Februrary, 18G3, having an independent affair with the enemy, 
breaking through his outposts near Falmouth and taking 150 
prisoners. Having retired to his camp in the vicinity of Culpep- 
per Court-House, he was called upon to meet a retaliatory 
movement of the enemy's cavalry which, having crossed the 
Rappahannock on the 17tli March, designed to overwhelm his 
detached brigade. An entire division of cavalry under Averill, 
about 3,000 men, was assigned to the enterprise. With not 
more than 800 of his command (many of the men having been 
sent home to recruit their horses). Gen. Lee moved out to meet 
the enemy, and fought the brilliant battle of Kelly's Ford. It 
was a decisive victory for the Confederates, and the hardest cav- 
alry fight of the war in proportion to the numbers engaged. 

In the battle of Chancellorsville, Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's brigade 
was selected to precede the troops in Gen. Jackson's grand flank 
movement, and was disposed in such a manner as to guard the 
front and flanks of the column from observation. It was the close, 
personal reconnoissance of Lee that gave Gen. Jackson the point 
of view, where he could observe the lines and batteries of How- 
ard's corps, and where, comprehending the situation at a glance, 
he instantly changed his plan of attack to that which completely 
surprised the enemy. By this observation Gen. Jackson discov- 
ered a way which would let Rodes' division into the rear of 
Howard's line, and at once gave a new command to it to cross 
the plank-road on which it was moving. The result was that 
this division came so unexpectedly upon the enemy that some 
of his batteries were captured with their muzzles pointing in an 
opposite direction. 

In the Pennsylvania campaign Gen. Fitzhugh Lee was with 
Stuart, and his command was constantly engaged with the 
enemy. In the severe fight at Hanover, Pennsylvania, he saved 



MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 555 

the day by coming in on the enemy's rear and routing Kilpat- 
rick's division. iVt Gettysburg he was on the extreme left, hotly 
engaging the enemy's cavalry ; and on the subsequent retreat of 
the army he did his accustomed good service in bringing up the 
rear. 

In the latter part of 1863, the cavalry of the Army of ISTorth- 
ern Virginia was divided into two divisions, of three brigades 
each ; and Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee were promoted to com- 
mand them, the two being under Stuart as senior Major-General. 
This promotion Gen. Fitzhugh Lee had obtained on a record of 
almost unexampled success ; his active disposition and brilliant 
courage had by this time made for him one of the first reputa- 
tions in the army. The repeated mention of his name in the 
careful reports of Gen. Robert E. Lee had made it familiar and 
dear to the pubHc; and in May, 1863, shortly after the battle of 
Chancellorsville, we find the Commanding General warmly writ- 
ing to him as follows : " Your admirable conduct, devotion to 
the cause of your country, and devotion to duty, fill me with 
pleasure. I hope you will soon see her efibrts for independence 
crowned with success, and long live to enjoy the affection and 
gratitude of your country." 'No doubt Gen. Robert E. Lee felt 
honourable pride in the achievements of his gallant nephew. At 
another time he wrote : " Your division has always had a high 
reputation. It must not lose it." And it never did lose it, to 
the last day of the Confederacy. 

We must pass to the vital campaign of 1864 to find the most 
memorable and brilliant passages in the military career of Gen. 
Fitzhugh Lee. In the very opening of that campaign, when 
Grant crossed the Rapidan, Lee's division was called upon for a 
decisive action. It then formed the right of the long Confed- 
erate line, extending from Madison Court- House to a point below 
Fredericksburg, and was rapidly moved to cover Spottsylvania 
Court-House. From this time commenced a series of cavalry 
fights running from North Virginia to the neighbourhood of 
Richmond, On the day on which Longstreet's advance arrived 
at Spottsylvania Court-House, the Federal cavalry were relieved 
by the Fifth corps of infantry (the advance of Grant's army) ; and 
against this force the cavalry division of Fitzhugh Lee held its 
ground most manfully, until the Confederate infantry arrived, 



556 MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 

and the position was secured to Gen. Lee. Tiie importance of 
Spottsylvania Court-House, as a military position, was then vital, 
and the service of Lee's cavalry on this occasion was an impor- 
tant element of the campaign. 

Scarcely a day elapsed when it was called to another and 
imminent field. Sheridan had started on a raid to the Central 
railroad, and in the direction of Richmond ; and Lee's division 
was ordered to follow, Gen. Stuart having joined it, and rein- 
forced the expedition by Gordon's brigade, which, however, 
moved by a different route. On the entire march Lee's advance 
was engaged with the enemy's rear ; it chased out of Ashland a 
Massachusetts regiment, which had already fired three houses in 
the village; and the same day at Yellow Tavern, six miles from 
Richmond, it fought in one of the most thrilling conjunctures, 
within hearing of the alarmed population of the capital. From 
ten o'clock in the morning until six in the evening Fitzhugh Lee's 
seven regiments contested the ground with Sheridan's whole 
corps, and accomplished the object of the action in the purchase 
of time, although forced at last to retire. It was in this engage- 
ment that Gen. Stuart fell ; and it must have comforted the heroic 
heart of the dying man that the favourite division of his com- 
mand had won such an important day. A letter from Gen. Bragg 
to Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, after the battle, assured him that the 
safety of Richmond had been accomplished at Yellow Tavern, as 
the resistance there had enabled him to withdraw troops from 
Drewry's Bluff to man the works on that side of the city. 

It is not possible within the limits and designs of this sketcli 
to include all the operations of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's command, 
when the campaign lingered around Richmond, and the cav^alry 
was almost daily skirmishing on the lines, or making excursions 
to check Sheridan's active and erratic movements. The action, 
however, of Reams Station claims notice as the most important 
incident of these operations ; the prize contested here was the 
Danville railroad ; and the glory achieved here by Fitzhugh 
Lee's division is a laurel of the command not to be omitted. Two 
divisions of Federal cavalry, under Wilson, were returning from 
their raid on railroad, when Lee, in concert with two of Mahone's 
brigades struck them, stripped them of their spoils and artillery, 
and put them to shameful rout. "Wilson carried back to his 



MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 5o7 

lines nothing on wheels ; his wagons, eighteen pieces of artillery, 
and even his ambulances, fell into Lee's hands, besides 800 negroes 
who had been abducted from their homes. 

Shortly after this event, Fitzhngh Lee's division was ordered to 
report to Lieut.-Gen. Anderson, who was sent to Early with 
Kershaw's division, and the campaign of the Valley was inaugu- 
rated. The important events of that campaign have ah'eady been 
related. Li the disastrous battle of Winchester, Gen. Lee was con- 
spicuous for his gallantry, and exposed his life on every part of the 
field. Three horses were shot under him — one his beautiful mare, 
" Kelly Gray," a favourite of the command — and at last he was 
brought to the ground by a minie ball, which pierced his thigh. 

He was kept from duty by the wound for several months. In 
the spring of 1865, he was summoned to Richmond, and by order 
of the Commanding General placed in command of the cavalry 
corps of the Army of Northern Virginia. Shortly thereafter 
followed the battle of Five Forks, in which the mistake was made 
— not by Fitzhugh Lee — of not following up the first success, 
when the enemy was driven within a quarter of a mile of Din- 
widdle Court-House. The superiority of the Virginia cavalry 
was never better shown than on the retreat, ending at Appo- 
mattox Court-House. Fitzhugh Lee was one of the three corps 
commanders, who, with Gen. Robert E. Lee, composed the coun- 
cil of war just before the surrender. His cavalry had covered the 
retreat, and been in one scene of incessant fight ; and though pass- 
ing events and knowledge of the failure of the cause were depress- 
ing the spirits of the men, a more gallant or more faithful body 
never resisted the enemy. It was ultimately determined in the 
council of war referred to that Fitzhugh Lee and Gordon should 
attack the enemy on the road to Appomattox Station, so as to 
cut an exit to Lynchburg ; the conditions of attack being 
reduced to this: if cavalry only was found in front, they might 
push on ; if infantry, a surrender was inevitable. It is well 
known that heavy masses of infantry were discovered in front; 
that the enemy showed himself on all sides, and that the neces- 
sity of surrender was then accepted. 

The career of Gen. Fitzhugh Lee entitles him to a marked 
place in all records of the war. He won many victories, and 
never sustained a considerable disaster, when he was independent 
in command. His courage was of the chivalric type ; his temper, 



558 MAJ.-GEN. FITZHUGH LEE. 

quick but placable ; his inspiration in the war that of a champion 
of a cause rather than a personal enemy. He had none of the 
coarser animosities of the war ; he was animated by the princi- 
ples he fought for, rather than by the phobia of brutal conflict. 
He was faultlessly brave ; he had social qualities of the highest 
order ; his genial humour, his high spirits, his strong friendships, 
made him not only a popular man, but a choice and admirable 
companion. 

It is said of him that he had not a personal enemy in the 
world. He was always the favourite of his school companions ; 
and the pranks we have related at West Point were conceived in 
the purest spirit of fun. He was merry and innocent, all his 
tricks and jokes being rather for sport than injury. His habit 
of signing his name " F. Lee " gave a handle to his gay compan- 
ions at West Point to nickname him " Flea." He was the most 
popular cadet in the academy. In the stern task of war he never 
abandoned his gaiety of disposition. He was always in for any- 
thing like " fun," and nothing pleased him better than to get ofl:' 
jokes on his stafi" and couriers. In this respect he resembled 
Stuart very much. The two commanders seemed to have 
established a mutual admiration society, and suited each other 
famously ; and, next to killing Yankees, they enjoyed cracking 
jokes at each other more than anything else. On the march 
they generally rode together, and the peals of laughter and cav- 
alry songs which they gave vent to in unison could often be 
heard far down the column, above the tramping of the horses and 
the clinking of the sabres. Both were very fond of music, and 
during the winter of '63 Fitz. Lee organized in his brigade a 
band of ten or twelve musicians, who were known as " Fitz. 
Lee's Minstrels." 

A prominent trait in his character (and in that of all the Lees) 
was an excessive fondness for the fair sex ; and, it is said, he has 
been seen to produce from his pocket-book a dozen rings received 
from a dozen young ladies, to prove that he M^as not a badly- 
treated man. 

His character may be summed up as an excellent soldier, a 
true patriot, a boon companion, a remarkable type of engaging 
manners. Virginia has reason to be proud of him as one of her 
first living gentlemen, and a brilliant contribution to her history 
in the war. 



BRIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISE. 



CHAPTER LII. 

An extraordinary excitement in Richmond. — The days of the Secession Convention. — 
"Wise's idea of " fighting in the Union."- — His style of eloquence in the Conven- 
tion. — A remarkable conversation in his hotel. — His rhetorical bravura. — 
Short-sighted vanity of the South. — Gen. "Wise's campaign in "Western Vir- 
ginia. — The disaster of Roanoke Island. — Gen. "Wise relieved from censure. — 
Death of his son. — An affecting scene. — Interview between Geu. "Wise aud Sec- 
retary Randolph. — Ilis command in South Carolina. — At Petersburg. — Geu. 
"Wise's fame as a soldier. — His mental gifts. — Marks of an afflicted intellect. — 
His tribute to the private soldiers of the Confederacy. 

In the latter days of April, 1861, there was in Richmond, Vir- 
ginia — a city already of no mean historical memories — an excite- 
ment unsurpassed within the memory of its living citizens, and 
equal to any that had occurred in the political annals of America. 
The Convention, summoned by the voters of the State, was debat- 
ing the high question of peace or war, and the revolution that had 
gathered in the Cotton States paused for the decision of the powerful 
and dominant commonwealth of Virginia. All commercial busi- 
ness in Richmond was well nigh suspended ; the political excite- 
ment involved all classes of the population ; and, in a city which 
had voted largely for the Union in the call of the Convention, 
secession demonstrations were now prevalent on the streets, and 
the nightly caucuses and political gatherings in the hotels pro- 
nounced for war, declared themselves the equivalents of the Con- 
vention, and even threatened it with the violence of the mob. 
Men who, a few days before, had upheld Governor Letcher in his 
" conservatism," were now stricken dumb amid the popular clamour 
for immediate action ; all the newspapers of the city declared for 



560 BRIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISE. 

instant Secession, and complained that, on the verge of a plain 
necessity for war, the Convention were splitting hairs over pro- 
posed amendments to the Federal Constitution; large crowds 
besieged the hall in which this body deliberated, and on one occa- 
sion a procession of citizens, dragging cannon and making some 
military show, proceeded to the Public Square, and, mounting their 
spokesman on the portals of the State House, declared that the 
secession of the State should be accomplished, even if popular vio- 
lence had to be invoked, and the arms of the people turned against 
the Governor, who, with pale face, watched from his windows this 
demonstration of the people, and heard, not without alarm, the near 
outcry against himself. So far indeed did this violence progress 
that it was seriously proposed that a mass-meeting, assuming the 
character of another Convention, should declare the popular will, 
and by the shortest and most expeditious method, override the 
Federal and all other authority that stood between Virginia and 
the cause of the seceded States. It was a period of great excite- 
ment, in which the clash and outcry of popular revolution mingled 
with the anxious and serious tones of the official debate. 

The Convention that held suspended the choice of Virginia was 
composed of the first men of the commonwealth ; and whatever 
clamour was raised against it, there was no charge of intellectual 
deficiency. Among its most distinguished members was Henry 
A. Wise. His life anteriour to this period belonged to the general 
political history of the country ; and there is but little necessity of 
reviewing it here to remind the reader of one of the most famous 
party-leaders of America. He had enjoyed the first honours of 
Virginia as her Governor; he had made the greatest partisan repu- 
tation of the country in defeating the Know-Nothing organization, 
and reestablishing the Democratic supremacy of Virginia; a true 
Southerner, a "fire-eater," according to the classification of the 
New York Herald; a Virginian intus et in cute, by his own definition, 
he was likely, in a Convention called to consider sectional ques- 
tions, to excite an unusual interest, and to occupy a prominent 
place in the public eye. 

But ex-Governor Wise entered the Convention, in some sense, 
as a Union man. His characteristic fondness for paradox, which 
always made it difficult to identify him with any party or with 
any well-established set of opinions, had at first led him to take 



BRIG.-GEN. HENKY A. WISE. 561 

the novel and most extraordinary ground that the South should 
fight in the Union, and maintain the character of legitimacy, by 
holding on to the Federal insignia, and claiming the sword and 
purse at Washington. Whatever the merit of this ill-defined 
advice, it is easy to see that it contemplated an adequate coup 
d'etat, on the part of the South, before the inauguration of Presi- 
dent Lincoln, and that, with that opportunity passed, it was no 
longer available. There was, perhaps, a possibility of such an 
adventure when the Democratic party was writhing under the sting 
and mortification of defeat, and ready for desperate enterprises; 
but when the Government had been suffered to fall into possession 
of the enemy, and the sword and the purse had been seized, it was 
too late to dream of peace — in or out of the Union — and submission 
or secession became the only and severe alternative. 

In the progress of events, ex-Governor Wise soon became a 
violent, uncompromising advocate of Secession, and whenever he 
raised his voice in the Convention it was in behalf of the South, 
and in bitter denunciation of the authority that had taken control 
at Washington. He was regarded as the most effective orator of 
the Secession party ; but it must be admitted that, in addition to 
the natural force of his utterances, his tones were threatening, his 
manner overbearing, and his style of eloquence too violent and 
excessive for the chaste appreciation of the scholar. In one pas- 
sage of debate it is remembered that he descended to a threat, 
which was too common in the Convention. When it was pro- 
posed to send a committee to ask Mr. Lincoln what was the object 
of his military movements, Mr. Carlisle, a marked Union man in 
the Convention, suggested that a similar committee should be sent 
to Montgomery, to ascertain from Jefferson Davis what he intended 
to do with the troops he was raising. Ex-Governor Wise inquired 
whether Mr. Carlisle would be named as one of the committee to 
be sent to Montgomery, for, "if so, that would be the last the}'- 
would ever see of him." The remark was in the true spirit of 
that day; but there is a coarse unpleasantness about it, when, 
repeated in history. 

A friend who visited ex-Governor Wise in his hotel in Rich- 
mond, in the heat of the political excitement, thus describes an 
interesting and characteristic interview: — "He was worn out and 
prostrated by a distressing cough which threatened pneumonia... 

36 



562 BRIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISE. 

But ever and anon his eagle eye assumed its wonted brilliancy 
He was surrounded by a number of bis devoted friends, who 
listened with rapt attention to his surpassing eloquence. A test 
question, indicative of the purpose of the Convention to adjourn 
without action, had that day been carried by a decided majority. 
The Governor once rose from his recumbent position on the sofa 
and said, whatever the majority of Union men in the Convention 
might do, or leave undone, Virginia must array herself on one 
side or the other. She must fight either Lincoln or Davis. If 
the latter, he would renounce her, and tender his sword and his 
life to the Southern Confederacy. And although it was apparent 
that his physique was reduced, as he said, to a mere ' bag of bones,' 
yet it was evident that his spirit yet struggled with all its native 
fire and animation. 

******** 
" Smiling, he rose, and walked to a corner of the room, where 
I had noticed a bright musket with a sword-bayonet attached. 
He took it up, and criticized the sword as inferiour to the knife. 
Our men would require long drilling to become expert with the 
former like the French Zouaves; but they instinctively knew 
how to wield the bowie-knife. The conversation turning upon 
the probable deficiency of a supply of improved arms in the South, 
if a great war should ensue, the Governor said, with one of his 
inevitable expressions of feeling, that it was not the improved 
arm^ but the improved man, which would win the day. Let brave 
men advance, with flint-locks and old-fashioned bayonets, on the 
popinjays of the Northern cities — advance on and on, under the 
fire, reckless of the slain — and he would answer for it with his life 
that the Yankees would break and run." 

This nonsense about finishing the war with a flourish of bowie- 
knives, etc., appears to have been a characteristic delusion of other 
minds quite as great as that of ex-Governor Wise, and may be 
taken as a reflection of the popular Southern vanity of the times, 
insolent almost to madness. But Wise appears to have fallen in 
love with this nonsense beyond all hope of recovery ; it gave him 
a stock of rhetorical bravura from which he furnished a number 
of speeches, and, although guilty of many extravagances on the 
hustings, he fairly surpassed in absurdity, in sound and in fury, 
all the demagogical utterances about the war. Contrary to his 



BRIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISE. 563 

anticipations, the State of Virginia did secede ; and a few weeks 
after the conversation referred to above, the city of Richmond was 
welcoming, with all her municipal honours, the advent of Presi- 
dent Jefferson Davis. On the occasion of the reception ex-Gov- 
ernor Wise spoke again. He said : " The man who dares to pray ; 
the man who dares to wait until some magic arm is put into his 
hand ; the man who will not go unless- he have a minie, or per- 
cussion musket, who will not be content with flint and steel, or 
even a gun without a lock, is worse than a coward — he is a 
renegade. If he can do no better, go to a blacksmith, take a gun 
along as a sample, and get him to make you one like it. Get a 
spear — a lance. Take a lesson from John Brown. Manufacture 
your blades from old iron, even though it be the tires of your cart- 
wheels. Get a bit of carriage spring, and grind and burnish it in 
the shape of a bowie-knife, and put it to any sort of a handle, so 
that it be strong — ash, hickory, oak. But, 'if possible, get a 
double-barrelled gun and a dozen rounds of buckshot, and go 
upon the battle-field with these. If their guns reach farther than 
yours, reduce the distance ; meet them foot to foot, eye to eye, 
body to body, and when you strike a blow, strike home. Your 
true-blooded Yankee will never stand still in the face of cold steel. 
Let your aim, therefore, be to get into close quarters, and with a 
few decided, vigorous movements, always pushing forward, never 
back, my word for it, the soil of Virginia will be swept of the 
Vandals who are now polluting its atmosphere." At the conclu- 
sion of this speech, as reported in the newspapers of the day, a 
band of music struck up "Dixie," which was followed by "We 
may be Happy yet." 

It appears, indeed, as if ex-Governor Wise, who had much of 
the quick, ardent mind of his countrymen, many of the accomplish- 
ments of the scholar and stores of real eloquence, had yet con- 
stituted himself the representative of all the follies in which the 
South entered upon the war. A gentleman, fresh from observa- 
tions in the North, visited him a few days after the Convention 
had declared for secession, and endeavoured to impress him with 
serious views of the future, with what effect his own statement 
will show: — 

" I called on Wise, and informed him that Lincoln had called 
out 70,000 men. He opened his eyes very widely and said. 



564 BRIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISE. 

emphatically, ' I don't believe it.' The greatest statesmen of the 
South have no conception of the real purposes of the men now in 
power in the United States. They cannot be made to believe 
that the Government at Washington are going to wage war imme- 
diately. But when I placed the President's proclamation in his 
hand, he read it with deep emotion, and uttered a fierce ' Hah !' 
Nevertheless, when I told him that these 70,000 were designed to 
be merely the videttes and outposts of an army of 700,000, he was 
quite incredulous. He had not witnessed the Wide-Awake gather- 
ings the preceding autumn, as I had done, and listened to the 
pledges they made to subjugate the South, free the negroes, and 
hang Governor Wise. I next told him they would blockade our 
ports, and endeavour to cut off our supplies. To this he uttered 
a most positive negative. He said it would be contrary to the 
laws of nations, as had been decided often in the Courts of Admi- 
ralty, and would be moreover a violation of the Constitution. Of 
course I admitted all this ; but maintained that such was the inten- 
tion of the Washington Cabinet. Laws and Courts and Constitu- 
tions would not be impediments in the way of Yankees resolved 
upon our subjugation. Presuming upon their superiour numbers, 
and under the pretext of saving the Union and annihilating slavery, 
they would invade us like the army-worm, which enters the green 
fields in countless numbers. The real object was to enjoy our soil 
and climate by means of confiscation. He poohed me into silence 
with an indignant frown." 

These passages of short-sighted vanity with respect to the war, 
and glimpses of absurd prophecy, are not very creditable to the 
subject of our sketch, and are really ludicrous in view of the sequel. 
But their interest is historical ; and they have besides a curious 
significance in showing how certain cultivated but strange minds 
m^ay be populated by crude fancies, and controlled by delusions 
worse than positive ignorance. 

On the Confederate authority taking control at Eichmond, 
Henry A. Wise was commissioned a Brigadier-General, and desig- 
nated to open the campaign in what is properly called Western 
Virginia. Early in June, 1861, Gen. Wise had organized a force 
of about four thousand men, and advanced as far as Charlestown 
on the Kanawha Elver, where he was opposed by Gen. Cox. 
Hearing of the result of the battle of Eich Mountain, he retired to 



BRIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISE, 665 

Lewisburg, on the Greenbrier Eiver, at the foot of the Alleghany 
Mountains. Thus the Federal lines were pushed forward from the 
Ohio River to the Alleghany Mountains, a distance of about one 
hundred miles, and a large portion of the people of Western Vir- 
ginia, who had shown symptoms of a wish to separate from the 
Eastern portion of the State and to remain in the Union, received 
the support of the Federal army. 

Gen. Wise had attempted with but little effect to keep the 
population in his department firm in their allegiance to Virginia, 
and had hoped to gather from it a large force of recruits. On 
taking command he had issued the following pertinent and well- 
prepared proclamation : 

EiPLET, Va., July 6, 1861. 

To the true and loyal citizens of Virginia on all the Ohio bor- 
der, and more particularly to those of Jackson County, I would 
earnestly appeal to come to the defence of the Commonwealth, 
invaded and insulted as she is by a ruthless and unnatural enemy. 
None need be afraid that they will be held accountable for past 
opinions, votes, or acts, under the delusions which have been prac- 
tised upon the Northwestern people, if they will now return to 
their patriotic duty and acknowledge their allegiance to Virginia 
and her Confederate States, as their true and lawful sovereigns. 
You were Union men, so was I, and we had a right to be so until 
oppression and invasion and war drove us to the assertion of 
a second independence. The sovereign State proclaimed it by her 
Convention, and by a majority of more than 100,000 votes at the 
polls. She has seceded from the old and established a new Con- 
federacy. She has commanded, and we must obey her voice. I 
come to execute her command — to hold out the olive branch to her 
true and peaceful citizens — to repel invasion from abroad, and 
subdue treason only at home. Come to the call of the country 
which owes you protection as her native sons. 

Henry A. Wise, Brigadier- General 

The unfortunate results of the campaign in Western Virginia 
are in some measure to be ascribed to the disappointed hopes of 
enlisting its resident population in the Southern cause. But, in 
any view, it is to be taken as an undoubted failure. Gen. Wise's 
campaign appears to have tested the endurance of the men in 



5(\C) BRIG.-GEN. HENUY A. WISE, 

marches and counter-marches, and in scouting and skirmishing in 
the Kanawha Vallej ; but, although no great battle was foiight, 
his men proved their courage and constancy in a number of affairs, 
such as Scarj Creek, Hawk's Nest, Honey Creek, Big Creek, 
Carnifax Ferry and Camp Defiance. x\s winter approached, 
Western Virginia was practically abandoned by order of the 
authorities at Eichmond ; and the enemy, without the force or 
merit of a single victory, came into possession of a country of more 
capacity and resources than any other of equal limits on the 
American continent. 

The defence of Eoanoke Island again brought Gen. Wise before 
public attention, and coupled his name with a great disaster. But 
in this matter he was both officially and popularly acquitted of all 
blame ; so much so that an active sympathy was excited in his 
favour, which, however, unfortunately for his hopes of promotion, 
put him in opposition to the Richmond Cabinet, and stirred the 
animosity of President Davis. The fact was, as developed by an 
investigation in Congress, that his command of less than 2,000 
men had contended against a force represented by sixty ves- 
sels, twenty-six of them gunboats, and not less than 15,000 
men, and had " fought firmly, coolly, efficiently, and as long 
as humanity would allow." Why, it may be asked, did Gen. 
Wise fight his men against such odds? The simple answer is, that 
he had no election. When the department was organized, and 
before his Legion left Richmond, he repaired in person to the 
island, examined into its condition, and hurried back to warn his 
superiours at Norfolk and Richmond of the indefensible condition 
of the island, and its utter want of means of defence. His remon- 
strance at Richmond was met by a peremptory order to the island, 
and there to defend it ; and at Norfolk he was told that men were 
not wanted. All we wanted were ^^ supplies, coolness, and hard 
work" After this, he was obliged to work and fight without 
means and without men. No men ever behaved with greater 
coolness ; but there was no time to work, and his command fought 
ten to one up to the muzzles, and without flinching. The Govern- 
ment had permitted the golden time for work to pass unimproved ; 
the delay of the enemy, caused by providential interference, had 
not been used by the Confederate authorities, and, notwithstanding 
the glorious performance of Gen. Wise's command, all was lost — 



BEIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISE. 567 

the granary and the larder of Norfolk was gone — and the enemy 
was at the back-door of that city. 

The investigating committee raised in Congress declared that 
the battle of Roanoke Island was " one of the most gallant and 
brilliant actions of the war;" and concluded that whatever of 
blame and responsibility was justly attributable to any one for the 
defeat, should attach to Gen. Huger, in whose military department 
the island was, and to the Secretary of War, Judah P. Benjamin, 
whose positive refusal to put the island in a state of defense secured 
its fall. 

The exculpation of Gen. Wise was complete. At the time of 
the battle he had been prostrated by illness ; and. affected as the 
public was by the fall of Roanoke Island, it yet had no word of 
blame for the unfortunate General, who was compelled to hear on 
a sick-bed — perhaps to witness from the windows of a sick chamber 
— the destruction of his army and the death of his son. The pride 
of his age, his son of great promise, Capt. 0. Jennings Wise, com- 
manding the Richmond Blues, had fallen in the action, in circum- 
stances of gallantry that were noticed by the Federals, and obtained 
from them a rare and noble tribute of respect.* lie was tenderly 
nursed by the enemy until death closed his eyes, and his body was 
then conveyed to the main land with every mark of respect. Gen, 
Wise met the remains at Currituck; and then ensued a touching 
scene, for the father insisted that the coffin should be opened that 
he might gaze for the last time upon the body of his son. The 

* The following acrostic, in memory of 0. Jennings "Wise, appeared in a California 
newspaper : — 

O'er his cold brow, 
Just touched by time's soft, silvery tracing, 
Entwine immorteUes with the unfading laurel, 
Nor fear the mildew of the grave will blight their fragrance, 
Nor the rustle of the icy worm 'mid its green leaves 
Impair the freshness of the dead soldier's coronal 

Not for the grave is the wreath woven, but, 
Glorious dust! when the last loud reveille 
Shall wake thee from thy slumbers, as one of those, 
"Whose flitting wings reflect heaven's opening light, 
In the full blaze of glory shalt thou rise, 
Soaring on high, with earth's long line of heroes, 
Enwreathed with this, the patriot's fadeless crown 



568 BRIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISE. 

powerful old hero of Eastern Virginia, the man of many sorrows 
and of many triumphs, bent over the body of his son, on whose 
pale face the full moon threw its light, kissed the cold brow many 
times, and exclaimed in an agony of emotion : " Oh, my brave 
boy ! You have died for me, you have died for me !" 

The acquittal of Gen. Wise by Congress was coupled with the 
first severe censure that that body had yet dared to cast upon the 
Eichmond Cabinet, and thus became the occasion of Executive 
prejudice, sustained to the end of the war, against the already ill- 
used commander. For several months after the event of Koanoke 
Island, he remained w'ithout any active command. He was highly 
recommended by Gen. Beauregard, who was always favourably 
impressed with his military character; he was advised by his 
friends to ask for another command ; and he was too patriotic not 
to overcome some personal sensitiveness, to the end that he might 
make another effort in defence of his country. He waited upon 
the Secretary of War, and ascertained that there was no brigade 
for him. Eeturning from the War Department, some of his offi- 
cers who had escaped "the slaughter pen" at Eoanoke Island, 
crowded around him to learn the issue of his application. "There 
is no Secretary of War! " said he. " What is Eandolph ? " asked 
one. "He is not Secretary of War! " said he; " he is merely a 
clerk, an underling, and cannot hold up his head in his humiliating 
position. He never will be able to hold up his head. Sir." It 
was finally through the influence of Gen. Lee, that Gen. Wise 
was ordered into the field. It was decided that he should have 
a brigade, but not with Beauregard. In the battles around Eich- 
mond he commanded three regiments of infantry, the 4th, 26th, 
and 46th Virginia, and four batteries of light artillery ; but he was 
only slightly engaged, acting under the orders of Gen. Holmes. 
He was stationed for some time at Chaffin's Farm. When Nor- 
folk was given up, his home and all his possessions fell into the 
hands of the enemy; and without a shelter for his head, he bivou- 
acked with his devoted brigade near the city of Eichmond. 

He was already the senior Brigadier-General in the Confederate 
army. He was finally sent without promotion to the department 
of Gen. Beauregard, embracing the coasts of South Carolina and 
Florida. Here he did some hard service, trying the temper and 
spirit of his troops in the lagoons and galls of the Edisto and Stono, 



♦ BRIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISE. 569 

aud their pluck on John's Island in South Carolina, at which latter 
place he drove the enemy from a strong position, and was honoura- 
bly and gratefully mentioned by Gen. Beauregard in his dispatches. 

When, in the spring of 1864, his Virginia troops were ordered 
back from South Carolina and Florida, to rally again around the 
altars of home, they showed an unconquerable ardour, "raising 
the slogan of Old Virginia Never Tire," and, opening the defile at 
Nottoway Bridge, rushed to Petersburg in time twice to save that 
city against odds of more than ten to one. In all the terrible trials 
that awaited them in the last defence of Richmond ; in meeting 
again and again the shock of attack on the thin line; in rolling a 
Sisyphean stone of parapet and traverse and breastwork and 
bomb-proof; in contending with hunger and nakedness, often with- 
out food fit to ieed brutes, without forage for transportation, and 
without transportation for forage, the devoted men of Wise's com- 
mand made a glorious and unbroken record in the last periods of 
the war, terminating only when they fired their last volleys at 
Appomattox Court-House. 

But little commentary is necessary on the military record of 
Gen. Wise. It was generally esteemed a fair one ; although it 
must be confessed that it fell below the expectation of his friends, 
and that his fame as a soldier is likely to constitute but the lesser 
part of his reputation in history. He was generally fettered in 
his military commands, and, although a gallant and successful 
fighter in what affairs he had, he was thought to lack that prudence 
which is often the better part of valour, and is always the indis- 
pensable element in a great commander's action. It was said that 
his courage was Quixotic, and that he would fight anything that 
stood in his way. His superiours, although unwilling to trust him 
for detached service, yet were always ready to designate his com- 
mand for desperate action, and put him in where the fight went 
hardest; and it was on the memorable days of the 29th and 31st 
March, 1865, that his command, with two other brigades, was hurled 
against two corps of the enemy on the Military and Bo^^dton plank 
roads, and staggered them so that they dared not follow the retreat. 
No one ever doubted a courage that was as much above suspicion 
as that of an ancient Roman ; no one questioned Gen. Wise's in- 
fluence over the men he commanded, and his faculty of inspiring 
them ; and yet he had only the chances of a subordinate for dis- 



570 BRIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISE. 

tinction, was never trusted witli a separate command, and accom- 
plished a reputation that must be classed am.ong the minor ones of 
the war. 

The intellectual gifts of Gen. Wise are his best title to fame. 
These gifts are remarkable ; his oratory has given him a name 
known in every part of the country ; and his eccentricities yet excite 
curiosity, and are often quoted with marks of admiration. It is with 
regard to these eccentricities that we hazard a critical remark. We 
sometimes find intellect of the highest order abused by a fondness 
for paradox, and a disposition to make strong and startling effects 
by sudden contradictions of the received opinions of the public, 
and novelties of literary style. So great is this affliction of Gov. 
Wise, that the peculiarity of his conversation is never to agree with, 
any opinion that is advanced ; no matter what that opinion is, no 
matter how firmly fixed the common-place may be in the ordinary 
judgment of men, he makes a point to go off at a tangent, to dis- 
sent for the sake of argument, and to discharge the abundant 
vivacity of his mind in eloquent dissertations at variance with his 
audience. His "table talk," as brilliant as that of Coleridge, is 
equally as rambling, inconsistent, and yet, after all, rather showing 
a vivacity of intellect than an insincerity of conviction. Men who 
can talk well on all sides of a question are often sincere for the 
moment in what they profess to believe, and persuade themselves 
as well as the audience to accept the novelty of their opinions. 
Yet this disposition of mind, entertaining as it may be, and partak- 
ing of a certain sort of genius, is an affliction — at least, it borders on 
a moral infirmity ; it reduces the intellect that should command 
by its convictions to the evanescent triumphs of the brilliant dis- 
putant. Such have been the triumphs which Gen. Wise has 
achieved, rather than those of the deliberate and trusted statesman. 
His disordered and inconsistent political life ; his strain after novel- 
ty in whatever he speaks or writes; his almost matchless com- 
mand of language, and an eloquence rich, affluent, but often dis- 
figured by word coinage, and an affectation of carelessness mixed 
up with classical severity, are marks of an afflicted intellect that, 
with better training, might have conquered fortune, and made him 
a reputation that would have been a possession for ever. 

Since the war Gen. Wise has made but little figure before 
the public. A recent address of his in behalf of charity for the 



BRIG.-GEN. HENRY A. WISE. 571 

orphans of deceased Confederate soldiers, is all that has been heard 
of him outside his profession, as a lawyer, in Kichmond ; and it is 
so remarkable for his best style of eloquence, and for the historical 
tribute it contains to the private soldiers of the Confederate army, 
that, in this double interest, we quote a portion of it as a fit con- 
clusion to this sketch : 

" The noblest band of men who ever fought or who ever fell in 
the annals of war, whose glorious deeds history ever took pen 
to record, were, I exultingly claim, the private soldiers in the 
armies of the great Confederate cause. Whether right or wrong 
in the cause which they espoused, they were earnest and honest 
patriots in their convictions, who thought that they were right to 
defend their own, their native land, its soil, its altars, and its 
honour. They felt that they were no rebels and no traitors in 
obeying their Slate sovereignties, and they thought that it was law- 
ful to take up arms under their mandates, authorized expressly by 
the Federal Constitution, to repel invasion or to suppress insur- 
rection, when there was such ^imminent danger as not to admit of 
delay.^ The only reason for the delay which could have been de- 
manded of them was to have appealed to the invaders themselves 
for defence against their own invasion ; and, whether there was im- 
minent danger or not, events have proved. They have been 
invaded until every blade of grass has been trodden down, until 
every sanctuary of temple, and fane, and altar, and home, has 
been profaned. The most of these men had no stately man- 
sions for their homes ; no slaves to plow and plant any broad 
fields of theirs ; no stocks or investments in interest-bearing funds. 
They were poor, but proudly patriotic and indomitably brave. 
Their country was their only heritage. The mothers and wives 
and daughters buckled on the belts, and sent husbands and sons 
and brothers forth, and women toiled for the bread and spun the 
raiment of ' little ones ' of ' shanty ' homes in country, or of shops 
in town, whilst their champions of defence were in their country's 
camps, or marches, or trenches, or battles ! They faithfully fol- 
lowed leaders whom they trusted and honoured. Nor Cabinets, 
nor Congress, nor Commissariat, nor Quartermaster's Department, 
nor speculators, nor spies, nor renegades, nor enemy's emissaries, 
nor poverty, nor privation, nor heat, nor cold, nor sufferings, nor 
toil, nor danger, nor wounds, nor death, could impair their con- 



572 BRIG.-GEN, HENRY A. WISE. 

stancy ! They fought with a devout confidence and courage which 
was unconquerable save by starvation, bloclcade, overwhelming 
numbers, foreign dupes and mercenaries, Yankeedom, Negrodom, 
and death ! Prodigies of valour, miracles of victories, undoubted 
and undoubting devotion and endurance to the last, entitled them 
to honours of surrender which gilded the arms of their victors and 
extorted from them even cheers on the battle-field, where at last 
they yielded for Peace ! " 



BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 



CHAPTEK LIII. 

Definition of Chivalry. — Its peculiarities and virtues. — A notable picture of cMvalric 
courage. — Turner Ashby's family. — His early life. — He raises a company of cav- 
alry. — His famous vrhite steed. — Death of his brother. — The devotion of Ashby. — 
Habits and appearance of the cavalier. — Purity of his hfe. — Adventure with 
the enemy at "Winchester. — Ashby on the retreat from Kernstown. — Chased by 
the enemy. — His horse killed. — Promoted a Brigadier. — His limited military edu- 
cation. — A scene around the camp-fires. — Dramatic death of Ashby. — Gen. Jack- 
son's tribute to his memory. — Honours to the deceased cavalier. — His place in 
history. 

There is a sense of inferiourity among certain men, which 
gladly revenges itself by miscalling, or caricaturing whatever is 
superiour to them. To certain low and grovelling minds it is a 
great contentment and delight to represent men more famous 
than themselves as accidents ; to describe great conquerors as 
felons ; to write down military commanders as murderers on a 
large scale ; to designate virtues in which they have no share as 
affectations and shams ; and to style the chivalry which they do 
not possess, the splutter of bullies. 

It is well to define here that very peculiar quality of manhood, 
which we entitle chivalry, and of which we claim that the late 
war has given on the part of the South, peculiar proofs and 
examples. The term, perhaps, has been much abused and 
misused ; but we recognize in it a well-defined idea, and a basis 
of estimate of men, sufficiently distinct and characteristic. To 
be sure, chivalry as an institution of the eleventh century has 
been dead some time ago ; but, as a sentiment, it has fought its 
way against much of the utilitarian spirit of modern times, and 
yet survives in some parts of the world. 



574 BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 

We have no hesitation in naming the most characteristic ele- 
ment of chivalry, a passio7i for danger — a love of danger for 
itself There are men who enjoy the emotions, the thrill, the 
sublime intoxication of danger. Some court it in the forces of 
nature, and are known as a peculiar sort of adventurous trav- 
ellers. But it is the characteristic and office of chivalry to court 
danger in the arms of men, and in the character of champion of 
a principle. It is not the animal desire of fight ; the brutal con- 
sciousness of power impelled to exercise itself; it is the sentiment 
of championship, and the pure grand desire of the emotion of 
danger in the combat of man against man. In such a disposi- 
tion, there is a natural fondness for single combat — the duello. 
It is to be remarked, indeed, that chivalry is not gregarious, and 
prefers always the individual risk and enterprise — the clear-cut 
front of man to man — to the mixed dangers of a general battle. 

What is sentimental in chivalry quickly allies itself with 
positive virtues. The true knight has an imfailing scorn of all 
under-handed means. He observes truth with the rigour of the 
saint ; his regard for it not being necessarily moral, but senti- 
mental — because to lie is cowardly. He is unwilling to admit 
any trace of malice or revenge in his adventure ; and to the 
vanquished foe his magnanimity is instant, and his generosity 
unbounded. He is in constant search of good causes of contest. 
He has a ready and tender regard for whatever is weak and 
unprotected, and shows it especially in his behaviour towards 
women. 

Here are elements enough to constitute and define a distinct 
quality 'of mind. The term, chivalry, has been used in many 
broad and vague senses, and especially confounded with moral 
questions. There is certainly a conviction of duty in chivalry ; 
it must have its good cause and its conscientious occasion ; but 
that is not sufficient to characterize it. It is not courage alone. 
It is not generosity alone. It is not prowess alone. It is not 
high morality alone. It is a distinct qualit}^, sui generis : a dedi- 
cation of self, a joy of contest, and, with all, a royal passion for 
danger. Especially, must we distinguish this rare quality of 
mind from fanatical fervour ; for chivaby, although essentially 
in the character of champion, goes past the idea it fights for, 
and finds a second object in the gaudium certaminis, the delight 



BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 575 

of contest and danger. If, bj this definition, we have nar- 
rowed the term from any of its general uses, we have done so 
justly, and with a view of having this quality of manhood 
severely separated to itself, and judged on its own merits. 

In tracing that series of characters, which in the records of 
the late war illustrate our subject, we shall find difl'erent types 
and varieties of chivalry. "VYade Hampton with his manners 
severe almost to haughtiness ; Henr}'' A. Wise, raging like a 
lion in battle, or stooping to kiss the cold, mute lips of his 
dead son ; Morgan with his rollicking humour and fondness for 
practical jokes ; the sweet-tempered, pious Ashby, waving his 
sword over his head with the simple, habitual words, " Follow 
me," or surrounded by children-scholars in the Sunday school ; 
Forrest with his coarse strength and bad grammar, and Titanic 
genius ; John M. Daniel with meteor pen, the first scholar of 
America ; " Young Pelham," cheering while his body is stricken 
with death ; Churchill Clarke, the Missouri boy, dying like a 
young martyr in sheets of artillery fire — all these illustrating 
different ranks and employments, yet agree in the same grand 
sentiment of championship, the same joy of defiance, and each, 
in his history, weaves the golden thread and superb mark of 
chivalry. 

In characters such as these the people of the South may find 
the peculiar ornament of their country, and their youth a model 
of true glory. The love of glory may be nearly translated as a 
passion for danger incurred in the cause of right. But the more 
exact term we have chosen for that disposition of mind is chivalry, 
so clearly is it marked by a delight in and the positive court of 
peril. A man may be deeply affected by the justice and merit 
of some cause ; he may make great sacrifices in its name ; he 
may serve it with an iron will ; he may pursue it with unconquer- 
able ardour; but it is the chivalric champion who advances 
beyond what is demanded of him, goes in search of danger and 
rejoices when he sees it. He who does this is the true knight ot 
modern times ; the example of manhood in which justice and 
romance are beautifully mixed ; the rare instance of an epicene 
nature ; an object of regard, which affection seeks to embrace, 
while admiration crowns ; a delight unto himself, and an orna- 
ment to any people. 



576 BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 

The art of tlie painter has found many subjects in the late 
war — its contests, the scenes it traversed, heroic deeds of heroic 
men. If we had to suggest an impersonation of chivalry which 
it might catch on its canvas, and by a picture give tlie best idea 
of this peculiar quality of manhood, we would take a scene, often 
described, in the famous life of Turner Ashby of Virginia. It 
was one of tliose irregular fights often occurring on the lines of 
the Potomac in the early periods of the war. A body of tlie 
enemy was encamped on the other side of the Potomac, opposite 
Boteler's mills ; they had posted themselves on the bank with 
long range guns, from which they kept up a prodigious fire. 
Ashby commanded on the other side of the river a body of raw 
troops, who were evidently very much aifected by the terrific 
sound of artillery. To reassure his men, and to gratify his love 
of danger, Ashby advanced, alone, to the bank of the river, and 
rode his white horse up and down, within point blank-range of 
tlie enemy's fire. When the balls were hurtling thickest, he 
would rein in his horse and stand perfectly still. Abreast to the 
red crash of the artillery, himself and white steed in defiant poise, 
he challenged danger like an olden knight. He mocked terrour ; 
he courted peril ; he stood still in the face of death, and the blood 
sang in his veins ! 

But this picture anticipates our narrative. We propose to 
give, in its natural order, though briefly, some account of a life 
which so adorned its age and country — which indeed made 
Turner Ashby the type of what was most glorious in the late 
war, and the glass of Southern chivalry. 

The ancestral stock of Ashby was well known in Virginia, and 
did patriotic service in the Revolutionary war, and that of 1812. 
His grandfather, Captain Jack Ashby, was a man of mark in the 
day in which he lived.* Upon the breaking out of the Eevolu- 

* An anecdote of this person, belonging to the Colonial times of Virginia, is not 
out of place here, and has been told iu his neighbourhood as illustrating the heredi- 
tary horsemanship in the Ashby family: 

When the news of the disastrous defeat and death of Gen. Braddock reached Fort 
Loudoun (now Winchester, Virginia), John Ashby was there, and his celebrity as a 
horseman induced the British commandant of the post to secure his services as 
bearer of dispatches to the vice-royal governor at Williamsburg. Ashby at once 
proceeded on his mission, and in an incredibly short time presented himself before the 



BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 577 

tion of 1776, lie raised a company in his neighbourhood in the 
upper part of Fauquier. It was attached to the tliird Virginia 
regiment, under command of Gen. Marshalh He was in the 
battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and several other of the 
most desperately contested fields of the Eevolution. From expo- 
sure and hardships endured upon the frontiers of Canada, he 
contracted disease, from which he was never entirely relieved to 
the day of his death. Four of his sons served in the war of 1812. 

The subject of our sketch was the second son of Col. Turner 
Ashby, a worthy planter of Fauquier county, Virginia. He lost 
his father at an early age, and he and his several brothers and 
sisters received their youthful training from a truly pious and 
intelligent mother, who belonged to the large and influential 
Green family of that section. 

After the school-days of Ashby were ended, he settled on 
the paternal estate, and devoted himself to the pursuits and pleas- 
ures of the country in which he resided, avoiding, however, the 
dissipations too common among the young men of that day, but 
the foremost in all innocent sports, the first to get up tournaments 
and fox-chases, and almost always the successful competitor in 
all manly games. His public career may be dated from the time 
of the John Brown raid. "When this monstrous invasion of his 
native State took place, Ashby, then Captain of a volunteer com- 
pany of cavalry, summoned his men, and was among the first to 
hasten to Harper's Ferry. When this insurrection was subdued, 
he knew very well that the end had not yet come, and he con- 
tinued to devote his time and means to the drilling and equip- 
ping of his company. When the State of Virginia seceded from 
the Union, and news came thereupon that the Federals had fired 
the armory at Harper's Ferry, Ashby was in the city of Rich- 
mond. He immediately started for his home, to summon his 
cavalry, and raise the standard of his insulted and outraged State. 
A neighbour and friend of his (Mr. H.) learning his arrival at 

commander at Fort Loudoun. This official, of choleric disposition, upon the appear- 
ance of Ashby, broke out in severe reproach for his delay in proceeding on his mis- 
sion, and was finally struck dumb with astonishment at the presentation of the gover- 
nor's reply to the dispatch I The ride is said to have been accomplished m the 
shortest possible time, and the fact is certified ui the records of Frederick county 
court. 

37 



578 BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 

home, and the purpose he had in view, sent for him. Ashby 
obeyed the summons. At their meeting, Mr. H. said : "You 
know how I prize my white stallion, by Talbrira, and of my 
intention not to sell him. ISTow, I present him to you as your 
battle-horse. You will make ^''our mark in the coming war. I 
desire you to ride the horse for my sake." The gift was accepted 
in the same generous spirit in which it was offered. The prophecy 
was fulfilled. Ashby, indeed, made his mark, and his white 
steed became historical. 

On the commencement of hostilities, he, with his company, 
reported for duty to General Johnston at Harper's Ferry, and 
was placed in command at Point of Rocks, where he was sup- 
ported by two other cavalry companies. About this time, Col. 
Angus W. McDonald, a prominent citizen of "Winchester, was 
commissioned to raise a legion of mounted men for border ser- 
vice, and Ashby's cavalry was transferred to the legion. Capt. 
Ashby was then tendered the post of Lieutenant-Colonel. But 
the brave captain w\is loth to leave the camp-fire of his old asso- 
ciates, until the arrival of his brother, Richard, from Texas, who 
joined the company as a private. This circumstance appeared 
to open the way to Turner's promotion. The men were willing 
to accept Richard Ashby as their leader ; but before the neces- 
sary arrangements could be made, he was killed in a skirmish 
with the enemy. 

The tragical death of this gallant young man was affecting to 
the last degree. On the 29th June, 1861, the two brothers left 
their camp, six miles from Romney, on a scouting expedition. 
Turner Ashby, with eleven men, approached the Potomac. 
Richard, with nineteen, skirted the line of the Baltimore and 
Ohio railroad. Dividing his force, the latter proceeded with 
seven men up the road, deceived by a traitor, who promised to 
guide him to a spot where he could capture some of the enemy. 
Suddenly a body of fifty Federal cavalry appeared from ambush, 
and rushed on them. No line of retreat was open except a deep 
cut for the railroad. Down this Richard Ashby and his brave 
men rode, halting often and firing at the foe, who kept at a good 
distance. He would probably have made good his retreat, but in 
seeking to wheel and front their pursuers, himself and five of his 
men were thrown into an open culvert, or " cow-^it,^'' across 



BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 679 

the track. Seeing the accident, the enemy galloped on them. 
Some of his men escaped, but their gallant leader, after cutting 
down one with his sabre, and striking another senseless with the 
butt of his pistol, was overpowered, and fell to the ground with 
four sabre cuts on his head and forehead. While thus helpless, 
one of the cowardly assailants asked if he was a Unionist. The 
dying soldier gasped, " no — a Secessionist,''^ and instantly a bayo- 
net was plunged through his breast ! 

The death of his brother was the occasion of deep, unspeak- 
able grief to Turner Asliby, and from that time a change appears 
to have come over his life. It seems that this earl}'- tragedy of 
the war, gave his first enthusiasm a deeper and sadder tinge ; 
and from this time he relinquished all other pursuits and concerns 
but that of repelling the invaders of his country. He shared 
every hardship with his men, refusing to avail himself of any of 
the privileges of his rank, and not only led them as an ofiicer, but 
took delight in individual feats of enterprise and swordsmanship. 
A splendid horseman, almost constantly in the saddle, he trav- 
ersed every part of his district, and would " come and go like a 
dream." He would be heard of at one time in one part of the 
country, and then, when least expected, would come dashing by 
on the famous and well-known steed which was his pride. It 
was incessant work with him ; he courted danger everywhere, 
and delighted only in its excitements ; and the brown eyes which 
spoke the gentle disposition of the young cavalier, flashed glori- 
ously in battle. 

Accepting the position of Lieutenant-Colonel in McDonald's 
Legion, he was on duty for some months in Hampshire county. 
He was afterwards sent on detached duty to Jefferson, into which 
county the enemy was then making frequent incursions from Har- 
per's Ferry and Maryland. Here he had command of four compa- 
nies of cavalry and about 800 militia ; and with this small force he 
was for months occupied in keeping Yankee invaders and rough- 
riders from the doors of the inhabitants, Avith such effect that the 
enemy could obtain no foothold in this portion of Virginia, until 
Banks crossed the Potomac in force in 1862. It was in this field 
that Ashby's cavalry acquired its great renown. The men could 
never find their commander idle ; they were stimulated not only 
by the brilliant and amazing example of personal courage which 



580 BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 

he always gave them iu front of the battle, but by his exhibition 
of activity, his sudden apparitions in all parts of the country, 
annoying the skirts of the enemy and daring him to combat. The 
chaplain of his regiment testifies that it was not an infrequent 
feat for him to ride daily over a line of pickets sixty or seventy 
miles in extent. He always looked like work ; the gray coat and 
pants with boots and sash, were frequently covered with mud ; 
but the daring and adventurous rider appeared to be never 
fatigued or dejected. He treated his men as companions; he 
had no idea of military discipline ; he was so ignorant of the art 
of war that his friends say that he was incapable of drilling a 
regiment; but, though no stickler for military rules, and preserv- 
ing among his men scarcely anything more than the rude discipline 
of camp-hnnterSj he governed so by his personal influence that his 
command never gave way before the enemy, %vas never circum- 
vented and never surprised. His own vigilance was something 
marvellous ; and, no matter what hour of the night he was aroused, 
he was always wakeful, self-possessed, and ready to do battle. 

It is curious how the popular imagination draws of men 
renowned in war the pictures of fierce, stalwart and relentless 
adventurers. Such a picture was never more at variance with the 
reality than in the case of Turner Ashby. He was of small stat- 
ure ; his eyes were luminous and soft except in the excitement 
of battle ; his gentle manners, his deference to sex, his grave re- 
gard for truth, his touching respect for religion, his severe and 
ascetic virtues — all united with enthusiastic courage, were qualities 
of the true knight, and made a combination of character at once 
rare and admirable. A long black beard gave character to a 
youthful face, dark and swarthy as that of the Spaniard ; but there 
was no cast of ferocity in it. There was a sweet solemnity in his 
countenance as of the self-devoted, and a beautiful and thrilling 
charm in a manner that never betrayed violence and yet contained 
the pulses of a deep and true enthusiasm. When he gave his 
most daring commands he would gently draw his sabre, wave it 
around his head, and then his clear voice would sound the simple, 
thrillinir words, "Follow me!" He was different from other 
famous cavaliers of the war, in that his manners were more sober 
and cultivated, sharing none of the humour of the war. There 
were no taunts or witticisms with the enemy — no rude jokes ; and 



BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 581 

altliough he delighted in all excitements it was only in ^Dure and 
virtuous exercises that he sought them. It is said of him that he 
was never known to engage in any game of chance, to use an oath, 
or to employ an expression that could offend the most polite ears. 
He had the traits of a gentle and firm manhood observed only in 
the best examples of chivalry. He was a polished gentleman, 
self-contained, careful of right speech, disposed to solitude ; but 
deferent to social etiquette, and at his ease in all companies. 

The most notable adventures of Ashby's career are contained 
in that famous campaign of Jackson in the Yalley already so often 
recited and celebrated in these pages. His affair with two Federal 
cavalrymen on the outskirts of Winchester is told as a remarkable 
instance of the determination and bodily strength of the man. 
It was in the month of March, 1862, when Jackson, finding the 
enemy approaching his flanks and about to overwhelm him with 
greatly superiour numbers, determined to fall back from Win- 
chester. The next day a column of eight thousand Federal troops 
entered the town and took possession. The Confederates had un- 
willingly and doggedly retired ; and Col. Ashby, commanding the 
cavalry, which composed the rear-guard of the array, remained be- 
hind his men, alone, in Winchester, until the enemy had swarmed 
into the ancient town, and were within two hundred yards of his 
position. He appeared to defy the enemy; reining his horse up 
steadily on a slight eminence he watched the approach of the 
liaughty and unprincipled foe. Observing the daring horseman, 
two Federal soldiers made a circuit to intercept his retreat ; and 
as Ashby, at last wheeling his trusted charger and uttering a de- 
fiant cheer for the Southern Confederacy, dashed off for the Val- 
ley turnpike, he found two cavalrymen in the road to dispute his 
progress. Dashing straight down upon them, paying no attention 
to their loud " halt," he sent a pistol ball through the head of one 
of them, and seizing the other bodily, grasping him by the throat, 
lie dragged him from the saddle and carried him at full gallop. 
This feat is authenticated beyond question, and could only have 
been performed by the best rider and one of the strongest men 
for his size in the Confederate army. 

The unequal battle of Kernstown was brought on by false in- 
formation as to the enemy's strength ; but despite the odds against 
him Jackson came very near winning the day. When the enemy 



582 BRIG.-GEN". TURNER ASHBY. 

at last drove his centre, and he was about to retire, Ashby sent 
him word that if he could only hold his ground ten minutes longer 
the Federal forces would retire. " I know this to be so," said 
Ashby. He had captured, it is said, a courier of Gen. Shields, 
bearing the order. Bat it was too late, the day was decided, and 
nothing was left but the alternative of retreat. 

Jackson's little array paused near Mount Jackson ; and in the 
month of April, being again pressed by the enemy, he moved 
slowly across the Shenandoah towards Swift Run Gap, through 
which ran the road to Richmond, giving the enemy the idea that 
he had abandoned the Yalley. In all this time the energy of 
Ashby was exercised to an extraordinary degree in protecting the 
retreat. In thirty-eight out of forty-two days after the battle of 
Kernstown he was fighting the enemy, keeping him in check, or 
cutting off his communications. When Jackson's army thundered 
across the Shenandoah bridge, with the roar of the enemy's guns 
sounding in their rear, Ashby was left to destroy the structure. 
But before the wet timbers could be kindled into flame the enemy 
was upon him and an excited chase ensued. Ashby found that 
he could easily distance his pursuers, and observing that two of 
them were considerably in advance, disdaining the odds, he reined 
in and turned to confront them, although both of his pistols were 
empty and he had nothing to depend upon but his sabre. As 
they came on at a headlong gallop a bullet from one of Ashby's 
men on the roadside terminated the career of one, and as the other, 
carried forward by his horse, arrived abreast of Ashby, a blow 
from his sword arm brought him to the ground. In a few minutes 
more, the adventurous commander was up with the retreating 
army ; he had escaped without a wound ; but his beautiful charger 
had received a mortal hurt, and as Ashby rode up to his men it 
was observed that blood was gushing from the side of the noble 
animal that had saved his life. The whole army had admired 
this historic horse ; and now, as he was led along the line of the 
regiment under arms, an eye-witness declares that he never had 
imagined so spirited and magnificent an animal. " He was white 
as snow, except where his side and legs were stained with his own 
blood. His mane and tail were long and flowing ; his eye and 
action evinced distinctly the rage with which he regarded the 
injury which he had received. He trod the earth with the grandeur 



BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 583 

of a wounded lion, and every soldier looked upon him with sjni- 
pathy and admiration. He had saved his master at the cost of 
his own life. He almost seemed conscious of his achievement, 
and only to regret death because his own injuries were unavenged." 

At a later period of the Yalley campaign, when Banks was 
chased from Strasburg, Ashby hung on the heels of his army, 
fighting wherever opportunity ofi'ered. It was on the occasion 
of tliis race for Winchester, that Ashby rode twice through the 
lines of a Yermont regiment, cutting through them with his 
sword, and then wheeling his horse and performing the same feat 
again, besides seizing the flag of the regiment and bringing it off as 
a trophy. The flag was presented to the State Library at Rich- 
mond, and was often noticed there as a testimony to one of the 
most brilliant deeds of Yirginia's youthful hero. 

On his return to "Winchester from the pursuit of Banks, Ashby 
was met by the commission of Brigadier-General of cavalry ; an 
honour he had well earned by his arduous and brilliant services. 
He had now command of the 2d, 6th, Tth and 10th Yirginia 
regiments, besides Chews' battery. It was a promotion he had not 
sought. Unsuited for the drudgery of the drill and military 
police, he was in this respect unequal to the care of a brigade ; 
but he had every other quality of a brilliant commander in the 
field, and, seconded by able colonels in his regiments, there is no 
doubt that, had he lived, he would have led his brigade in a 
career of glory surpassing all his previous successes. But his 
days were already nearly numbered. When the announcement 
of his promotion was made, it was observed that his face was 
lighted up by one of those sad smiles which had occasionally 
brightened it since the death of his brother. 

• On the night of the 5th June, Jackson's army was on its 
forced march for Port Republic ; and Ashby 's brigade, in the 
neighbourhood of Harrisburg, snatched the rest which exhausted 
nature demanded. After the informal camp-supper, most of the 
men and oSicers sank into the arms of a heavy undisturbed 
sleep. iJTot so, however, with their loved commander. Tiiis 
night Ashby is said to have been more watchful and vigilant 
than ever. Ordinarily, after the duties of the day, he would 
come into camp, and sink down in his buffalo-robes and elk-skins, 
and sleep as sweetly as a child. But on this night he paced up 



584 BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 

and down before the camp-fire — the last camp-fire — indisposed to 
sleep, and apparently lost in reverie or meditation. The whole 
camp, save the guard, was slumbering, and nought could be 
heard but the slow-measured tread of the sentinel. Occasionally, 
the commander would pause and listen, as the clear voice of the 
guard cried out, " "Who's there ?" and hearing the answer, 
*' Friend," would resume his walking. AVho can tell the thoughts 
that occupied the mind, and banished sleep from the eye- lids of 
Turner Ashby, on this, his last night on earth ! Alas ! none but 
He who " holdeth the wind in his hand." But whatever may 
have been the character of his reflections, they did not cause him 
to bend one moment from his duty, and they left no shade upon 
his face. 

The next day Ashby held the rear of the retreating army, with 
Ewell's division next to him. About two miles east of Harris- 
burg a body of the enemy's infantry was found, strongly posted 
in the woods, and the 1st Maryland regiment of Col. Bradley T. 
Johnson and the 58th Yirginia were advanced to drive them from 
a heavy fence of timber. Ashby was on the right of the 58tli 
Virginia, directing the attack in front, Mobile the Marylanders 
were disposed in the woods, so as to take the enemy in flank. 
From their partial cover the Federals were pouring destructive 
volleys into the ranks of the 58th Yirginia, when Ashby, seeing 
at a glance their disadvantage, ordered them to charge and drive 
the enemy from his vantage ground. He waved his hand towards 
the enemy — " Virginians, charge !" At this moment his horse 
fell. Extricating himself from the dying animal, and starting to 
his feet he shouted, "Men, cease firing! charge, for God's sake, 
charge !" The words were on his lips when a bullet from a con- 
cealed enemy, not twenty yards from where he stood, pierced 
him full in the breast, and he fell dead. 

His death was fiercely avenged, for the Marylanders, dashing 
upon the enemy's flank, forced him from his cover, and poured 
into the fleeing mass, now fully exposed, successive volleys of 
mnsketry. But blood, so common, could not pay for that of the 
generous Virginian. When the action was over, strong men w^ept 
to know that he was dead, and even prisoners, taken from the 
enemy, removed their caps as the lifeless body of the j^oung hero 
was borne through their midst. The tribute of Gen. Jackson to 



BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 585 

his dead companion in arms, was perhaps the most emphatic that 
ever came from his moderate and carefnl pen. He wrote : " An 
official report is not an appropriate place for more than a passing 
notice of the distinguished dead; but the close relation which 
Gen. Ashby bore to my command, for most of the previous twelve 
months, will justify me in saying that, as a partisan officer, I 
never knew his superiour. His daring was proverbial, his pow- 
ers of endurance almost incredible, his tone of character heroic, 
and his sagacity almost intuitive in divining the purposes and 
movements of the enemy." 

The obsequies of Gen. Ashby were celebrated at Charlottes- 
ville, Virginia. The services were performed by the Rev. Mr. 
Norton and Rev. Mr. Avery — the latter Chaplain in Ashby's 
cavalry from the opening of the war. Both spoke of the deceased 
in terms of high praise as a man, a soldier, and a Christian. The 
brave soldiers wept as they listened to the pious exhortations of 
the clergymen. They had lost much in Gen. Ashby, but they 
were exhorted to imitate him in all things, and especially in his 
veneration and respect for Christianity. The country looked to 
them for deeds of greater valour than had ever yet been accom- 
plished by them ; and there, on the dead body of their late com- 
mander, they were called upon to swear not to sheathe their swords 
while a hostile army polluted the soil of Virginia and the South. 
After the services in the chapel the remains were conveyed to 
the University cemetery and committed "earth to earth, ashes to 
ashes, and dust to dust," — the Professors of the University assist- 
ing in the ceremony. It was thought appropriate that here the 
tomb of Ashby should remain, a memorial to the generous youth 
of Virginia gathered at the State University, to learn not only 
the lore of the scholar, but the virtues and patriotism which 
adorn manhood and perfect citizenship. 

In this brief memoir of the services of Gen. Ashby, there is no 
pretence that he was a great military man ; and we have already 
suj^sested his defects in this reo-ard. He had no idea of the 
principles of military subordination or order ; he never had one- 
half of his command well in hand ; and his exploits were all per- 
formed with a few hundreds, or often scores, of men who followed 
him from personal devotion rather than the force of discipline. 
The chief interest of his life attaches to his peculiar representation 



580 BRIG.-GEN. TURNER ASHBY. 

of the orave and cultivated manhood of the South. He was the glass 
of chivalry ; the perfection of courage ; a noble and pure example 
of all the virtues of the citizen. The qualities which he displayed 
in modern war are as admirable now as in the days of Froissart's 
Chronicles. " No coarse excess soiled for a moment the maidenly 
delicacy of his morals ; no plunder ever stained his hands ; nor 
did woman, nor disarmed enemy, ever meet anything but mag- 
nanimous kindness from him." Remembered by his countrj'men 
tenderly ; honoured by the enemy whom he fought with untar- 
nished sword, no man in the South has happier memory, or sleeps 
more sweetly in the soldier's grave. 

"He was Freedom's champion; one of those, 
The few in numbers, who had not o'er-stept 
The charter to chastise which she bestows 
On such as wield her weapons. He had kepi 
The whiteness of his soul, and thus men o'er him wept" 



LIEUT-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK. 



CHAPTER LIY. 

Exchange of the Bishopric of Louisiana for a military command. — Reasons why Bishop 
Polk resigned his holy calling for arms. — Reflections on the ethics of war. — 
Bishop Polk a graduate of "West Point. — Adventures as a Missionary Bishop in 
Western wilds. — Flatboat-men and gamblers. — Gen. Polk wins the victory of Bel- 
mont. — A serious accident. — Battle of Shiloh. — The battle of Perrysville fought 
under Gen. Polk's direction. — His adventure with an Indiana Colonel. — Interest- 
ing incident in the "battle of Murfreesboro. — Gen. Polk's conduct at Chickamau- 
ga. — Censured by Gen. Bragg. — Transferred to command in the Southwest. — He 
frustrates Sherman's expedition. — Returned to the Army of Tennessee. — His 
death at Marietta. — Anecdotes illustrative of his character. 

When in the commencement of the war, proclaimed bj the 
South in the interest of liberty and independence, it was announced 
that Leonidas Polk, Bishop of Louisiana, had resolved to suspend 
his holy calling and accept a military command as Major-General 
in the Confederate service, an event so extraordinarj' made a great 
impression on the popular mind, while it was variously commented 
upon by the clerical public. While some of the latter warmly 
commended the act, and saw in it nothing inconsistent with the 
Christian profession, there were others who looked upon it as a 
lapse from duty, and thought the bishop's robe ill-exchanged for 
the uniform of the soldier. The venerable Bishop Meade, of Vir- 
ginia, perhaps the most conspicuous Episcopal divine of the country, 
suggested the impropriety of the act, and wrote a fraternal letter 
to Bishop Polk, reminding him that he already had a commission 
in a very different army, to which he should still hold allegiance ; 
but Polk replied, that while he accepted the major-generalship, he 
did not intend to resign his right to the bishopric. " When," 



588 LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK. 

said be, "I accept a commission in the Confederate army, I not 
only perform the duties of a good citizen, but contend for the prin- 
ciples which lie at the foundation of our social, political, and reli- 
gious polity." In subsequent letters and conversations he pleaded 
his justification more strongly ; he appeared to regard it as a com- 
manding duty and a special call that he should join in fighting the 
battles of his country ; and yet in the hard and perilous tasks of 
the field he never ceased to anticipate joyfully the time when, 
released from this duty, he might resume his religious charge, and 
go back to the quiet walks of his life. It was the impulse of duty, 
of necessity, of self-preservation, rather than the transport of en- 
thusiasm that carried him to the field of battle. He remarked to 
a friend, only a short time before his death: "I feel like a man 
who has dropped his business when his house is on fire, to put it 
out ; for as soon as the war is over, I shall return again to my 
sacred calling." The fond anticipation was never realized, and he 
sleeps in a soldier's grave. 

The course of Bishop Polk in giving to his country the benefit 
of his military skill and learning was commended by a majority of 
the Southern clergy, and was acclaimed by the people as a sort of 
sanctification of their struggle with despotism and oppression. 
There is no doubt that it was peculiarly and abundantly sustained 
by the justice of the cause and the exigencies of the country. The 
circumstance of his early education as a soldier gave additional 
propriety to his assumption of martial duty ; and Gen. Polk had, 
doubtless, reason to thank God that he had been trained to combat 
in the armies of men, as well as to contend in the cause of his Ee- 
deemer. He maintained the Confederate cause as a righteous one; 
and, at the head of a large and devoted body of men, he prepared 
to battle with the wicked and malignant spirits who warred upon 
the peace, happiness, nnd indisputable rights of the Southern 
people. 

Much has been written on the ethics of war ; and if we intro- 
duce some reflections on it here, it is not because the subject is 
new, but because we believe it to be misunderstood from the very 
excess of cant and sermonizing on the subject. It is to be ob- 
served that we have had in the South but little of that sickly 
whine that war is impious, that it is an exaggeration of murder 
and other crimes, and that men should pray for the world to be 



LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK. 589 

governed by peace conventions. But war, civilized war, is not this 
horrible thing — its proper impersonation not the frightful giant, 

" His blood-red tresses deepening in the sun, 
With death-shot glowing in his fiery bands." 

True, war may be degraded to a system of beastly ferocity, 
ravaging the fair earth, invading the homes of women and child- 
ren with the firebrand, and carving out with its unsightly arms 
the rewards of the plunderer and assassin. This may be war as the 
North made it when it smoked the fat of the land, struck at every 
blade of grass in the South, destroyed twelve hundred churches, 
and fired tens of thousands of homes ; and this may be what Gen. 
Sherman meant in the brutal and absurd definition : '• war is 
cruelty." 

But no ! war, honourable war is beautiful ! It is the noble 
exercise of manhood ; it is the expression of human progress ; it is 
the purification and economy of the human race, ordained of God 
since the world has stood. 

Strike from the records of the human race war, and all that 
relates to war, and what a blank — what a dreary tract of com- 
monplaces — would there be! The most splendid pages would 
be lost ; virtues for which there would have been no occasion 
would be unknown ; a thousand graces would never have 
bloomed ; the most brilliant parts of literature would be extin- 
guished ; the most fruitful themes of genius and art would not 
exist ; the Iliad would never have been written ; the noblest texts 
of Shakspeare's dramas would have been wanting; in short, by 
far the better half of the glory and interest of history would be 
annihilated. This is a plain test, and any one may use his scissors 
on history to determine how little would be left of its charms and 
glories if there were no wars. 

Let us imagine in a general way that state of things in which 
there was no war. Nations would degenerate into herds of cowards, 
eaten up with selfish lusts, timid, emasculated, without even schools 
of physical exercise. Honour would have no place in our voca- 
bulary, and Courage would be the idlest of ornaments. Those 
who would have us immolate our manhood do not reflect that 
such a condition is shown to be productive only of cunning, vice, 



590 LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK. 

and unnatural practice. Those who would have all wars to cease 
would merely give us over to the dead-rot of peace. The sickly 
preachers who dab their mouths with soft handkerchiefs and pray 
for the univereal season of peace, forget that St. Paul in his in- 
spired epistles found his favourite images in the camp and pano- 
plies of war, recognising the virtues that make at once the good 
soldier in the field and the good soldier of Christ.* 

* Let us be done with pajring out the greased coin of cant and saying that war is 
murderous, and that the armed contest of man with man, is a relic of barbarism ; and 
let us have the courage to carry a principle, once admitted, to all its consequences. 
As circumstances will arise in the life of nations justifying war, creating the necessity 
for it, making it a useful and honourable exercise, so in the community there will be 
occasions of individual combat. An outcry has been raised against the duello, when 
the fact is that the duello is simply the unit of tvar, justifiable on the same grounds — 
war in fact reduced to its simplest form, that form the best-matched, and therefore the 
most honourable. It is said that the duello is unequal, and yet after all, whatever 
may be the difference of skill in arms, what other form of combat is more equal than 
that where a code of honour gives to the antagonists the same weapon, and attempts 
every expedient of fairness, vrithin the range of man's natural and moral invention. 
Is the combat of mere physical strength more equal, where the strong man strikes 
down the weak ; or that of cunning, where the simple man is at the mercy of the 
villain ; or that of words, where the pure and honourable have to compete with the 
foul libeller, and the ingenious liar ? But it is said that the law affords redress, and 
that the injured party should in all things complain to it. Do we not know and feel 
that the law takes no account of the sensibilities ; and that pecuniary damages do not 
satisfy the wounds of honour, the murdered peace of one's family, the libel, the se- 
duction, the nameless outrages of cowardly villany. To those who would hiss down 
the duello, we would reply with calm reason that, as the unit of war, it is as justifiable 
as war itself; that it is the most equal form of combat yet devised ; and that, in a 
certain class of outrages, it is the only effective mode of redress. These are solid 
considerations in opposition to a mere clamour. Those who exclaim against the duello, 
are generally those who shrink from a just responsibility for their acts, and prefer to 
keep their own advantages in the unequal contest of underhanded villainy and dirty 
words. When Master Bridgenorth pleaded conscientious scruples, and refused to 
accept the cartel of Sir PeverLl, the old knight well replied : " In return for your 
uncivil advice, be pleased to accept of mine, namely: that as your religion prevents 
your giving a gentleman satisfaction, it ought to make you very cautious of offering 
him provocation." 

It is to be hoped, indeed, that the duello, as a pecuhar institution of combat among 
the people of the South, may be long preserved and cherished by them, and that, 
even when the aping spirit of Puritanism may invade their Legislatures and Courts, 
the legal authorities may, in this respect, be disarmed by public opinion. This insti- 
tution of combat should be prized by the South as a noble inheritance, a relic of chival- 
ry, an honourable peculiarity, the best element of their social system ; at once a 
genius of civilization, a teacher of manners, and a guardian of the household. We 
believe that the time will yet come when the world, often governed as it is by a mere 



LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK, 591 

But we return to the subject of our sketch. "We have already 
referred to the fact of Bishop Polk's education as a military man. 
He also belonged to a family that had been distinguished in arms, 
and was connected with the early traditions of American liberty. 
He was born in Ealeigh, North Carolina, about the year 1808. 
His father, the late Col. William Polk, was a highly meritori- 
ous and distinguished soldier in the Revolutionary war. He was 
a near relation of Thomas Polk, who was in the van of the few 
intrepid spirits that inaugurated the freedom of the American colo- 
nies, by issuing the famous Mecklenburg declaration of indepen- 
dence. 

Young Polk acquired the elementary part of his education at 
an excellent academy in his native State. His father, however, 
having an earnest desire that his son should adopt the military 
profession, availed himself of the earliest opportunity that presented 
to place him at "West Point. Here he remained the usual term ; 
and upon his graduation, instead of entering the army, he resolved 
to engage in the peaceful calling of the ministry. Accordingly he 
applied for, and took orders in the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
In 1838, he received an appointment as Missionary Bishop in 
Arkansas and part of the Indian Territory, with a provisional charge 

clamour, will take a second thought on this subject, and be anxious to restore an insti- 
tution of combat that has been replaced by unmatched methods of controversy, scan- 
dalous inventions, and every vile and dirty expedient. It is the duello that truly pro- 
tects the weak against the strong, silences the bully, gives the lesson to the powerful 
villain, compels decency of manners, purifies the language of conversation, raises 
the tone of society, puts under stern guard the iutegrity of the household, and gives 
protection against that, of which Charles Dickens says, referring to the newspaper 
press in the northern cities of America : 

" It has its evU eye in every house, and its black hand in every appointment in 
the State, from a president to a postman ; with ribald slander for its only stock in 
trade. * * * When any man of any grade of desert in intellect or character can 
chmb to any public distinction, no matter what, in America, without first grovelling 
down upon the earth, and bending the knee before this monster of depravity ; when 
any private excellence is safe from its attacks, and when any social confidence is left 
unbroken by it, or any tie of social decency or honour is held in the least regard; 
when any man in that Free Country has freedom of opinion, and presumes to think 
for himself, without humble reference to a censorship, which for its rampant igno- 
rance and base dishonesty he utterly loathes and despises in his heart ; when those 
who most acutely feel its infamy and the reproach it casts upon the nation, and who 
most denounce it to each other, dare to set their heels upon it, and crush it openly ia 
the sight of all men — then I will believe its influence is lessening." 



592 LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK. 

of the diocese of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and the Repub- 
lic of Texas. In 1841, he was ordained regular Bishop of Louisi- 
ana, and held that post for twenty years. 

His personal appearance, even at the sacred desk, was decidedly 
military, and in every word and glance he bore the impress of the 
soldier rather than that of the divine. He was a large, well-pro- 
portioned man, with florid complexion and intellectual face. His 
hair was slightly grey, and his whiskers, which had the military 
cut, were completely so. His eyes were grey and keen, his nose 
of the Roman order and his mouth sunken, with straight and tightly 
compressed lips. Affable in manner, agreeable in conversation, 
there was yet an expression of unconquerable determination in his 
countenance, and the air of one accustomed to command. An 
anecdote describes with great neatness and character the tout ensem- 
ble of the man. Stopping at the house of a Mississippi planter, 
when engaged in his early missionary labours in the Southwest, 
his host addressed him at the table as General. Being corrected 
and told he was Bishop Polk, the man replied quickly, "I knew 
he was a commanding officer in the department to which he be- 
longed." 

As Missionary Bishop in a wild country, and among a lawless 
population, he had a field of singular adventure, and we find him 
sometimes displaying a " muscular Christianity," in keeping with 
his character and constitutional bravery, and not out of place 
among the rude and turbulent men by whom he was often sur- 
rounded. There is a collection of anecdotes in this portion of his 
life, some of which we' quote as showing the character of the man, 
and exhibiting a curious picture of the society in which he was 
first called to break the bread of life. 

Upon one occasion, descending one of the Southwestern rivers 
in a small steamer, the boat struck a snag and sank. The passen- 
gers got ashore with part of their baggage, when it was proposed 
to walk some seventy miles to the nearest port, the chances for 
another boat overtaking them speedily being very slight. The 
Bishop, an excellent mechanic, thought the boat could be raised, 
and submitted a plan to the captain, who begged him to undertake 
it. With the aid of the crew and some deck passengers, this was 
accomplished; when, a boat passing, the Bishop, with the others, 
went to the next town below. Here, on asking the inn-keeper if 



LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK. 593 

there was a place for holding church services, he was told that 
there never had been any preaching in the town, and that they did 
not want it, and that he would be mobbed if he attempted it ; how- 
ever, if Mr. , the principal merchant in the place, would agree, 

they would not object. On being applied to, Mr. 's exclama- 
tion was: " I left New England to get rid of preaching, and don't 
want it here." His consent, however, having been obtained, arrange- 
ments were being made for service on the following Sunday. Flat- 
boatmen, always a lawless set, being in strong force in the town, 
declared there should be no preaching, and if it was attempted they 
would break it up. In the meantime, the steamer which the 
Bishop had assisted in raising came down, and the hands hearing 
of this, said " this was not a common preacher, he knew how to 
work, and if he chose to preach he should preach, and they would 
like to see the flatboat-men who would hinder it." A row between 
the parties was apprehended, but the steamboat hands being most 
numerous, the boatmen were quiet, and the services passed off 
without disturbance, a very large and attentive congregation being 
present. Four years after, the Bishop made another visit to this 
town, and was told there had been no preaching there since his 
last visit. 

An incident is often related which occurred at the mouth of 
White Eiver. The Bishop, from constant living in the open air, 
a great deal of exercise, and very temperate habits, had acquired 
an appearance of robust health. He always wore, even in the 
days of thin boots, soles as thick as the present Balmoral, and had 
an overcoat of pilot cloth capable of resisting all weathers. Land- 
ing at the mouth of White Eiver, to take a boat for Little Eock, 
he found the regular packet did not leave until an early hour in 
the morning, and that no one was allowed to sleep on board. He 
was therefore compelled to go to the tavern, which at that time en- 
joyed a most unenviable reputation as the resort of robbers, gam- 
blers, and cut-throats, the former members of Murrell's gang. 
There was no one in the miserable place but himself. He sat with 
the landlord by the fire until some time after dark, when the inn- 
keeper advised him, if he wished a place to sleep, to secure it be- 
fore the hoys came in, as they were now drinking and gambling 
on board the flatboats at the wharf, and would be up before long. 
He was accordingly shown into a long room, with more than a 

38 



594 LIEUT.-GE]:?, LEONIDAS POLK. 

dozen beds, none of the cleanest in the world, where his host left 
him to go to bed, by the light of a candle stuck in a bottle. Every- 
thing was so exceedingly filthy that, protecting his head with a 
silk handkerchief, he turned up the collar of his coat, took off his 
boots, which he placed by the side of his bed — which, by the way, 
he had chosen near the door — and composed himself to sleep. 
About midnight he was aroused by the rush of feet up the stairs, 
and in a few moments the room was filled with men, who began 
to undress as soon as they entered, and appropriated the various 
beds. One man was left out, and coming to the side of the bed, 
he said, addressing himself to the Bishop : " Well, stranger, I am 
going to turn in with you." The Bishop merely looked up, and 
said : " You cannot come here, sir." " Oh ! there's two to that — 
I'm coming." "You cannot come here, sir." " You do not mean 
it — I am coming," accompanied by a volley of oaths. "You can- 
not come here, sir," was still the quiet answer to this. The man 
began to falter, evidently not liking the appearance of determina- 
tion. The others called out not to quarrel with the fellow, they 
would settle with him in the morning, and they would make room 
for their companion in one of the other beds. 

Early in the morning, while they were in their drunken slum- 
bers, Bishop Polk was up and away, steaming up the river. On 
reaching Little Rock he met some old friends, and on chancing to 
mention this, they told him men had been killed in that house for 
much less, and they considered it a wonderful escape. One asked, 
" Did the fellow see those boots ?" " Yes, they were at the side 
of the bed." "Ah ! that accounts for it. He concluded any man 
who wore such boots and such a coat, and was so quiet, must be 
armed to the teeth, and was certain if he had touched the bed he 
would have been shot." The Bishop's ignorance of the risk run 
saved him ; but his constitutional bravery never allowed him to 
hesitate a moment for fear of consequences. 

On entering the Confederate service as Major-General, he re- 
ceived a command which extended from the mouth of the Arkan- 
sas River, on both sides of the Mississippi, to the northern limits 
of the Confederate States, and took in the encampment at Corinth. 
His first notable action in this department was the battle of Bel- 
mont (November 7, 1861), in which the Federal General Grant 
secured a landing on the Missouri shore, nearly opposite the town 



LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLE. 595 

of Columbus, and, driving back Pillow's division, had almost 
won the day, when Gen. Polk crossed the river with Cheatham's 
Tennesseeans, and gained a decisive victory — the Federals falling 
back from their main attack and seeking to regain their boats. 
For this action he was highly commended by his superiour, Gen. 
Albert Sj^dney Johnston, and thanked by President Davis for " the 
glorious contribution " he had made to the Confederate cause. 

An officer who w^as engaged at Belmont thus writes of the fluc- 
tuations of the battle and Polk's merit in striking the decisive 
blow : " Gen. Pillow has to thank his stars that Polk so quickly 
came to his succour, or, instead of being hailed as victors, we 
might all have been snugly provided for in some New-England 
fort or penitentiary. Yet his vanity is not less conspicuous now 
than it was in Mexico, and he is eternally carping at ' the Bishop,' 
as he terms Polk, who, nevertheless, is a capable and laborious 
commander, accessible at all times by high and low, a thorough 
disciplinarian and fine engineer. If he chose to leave the army in 
former times and enter the Episcopal Church, and become a learned 
bishop among his brethren, it surely does not detract from his 
reputation as a gentleman, a Christian, and a scholar, to say that 
he resigned his charge in answer to the especial call of the Execu- 
tive, who demanded the service of all talented men in behalf of 
the common cause. Polk was a good Bishop ; he is now an excel- 
lent and accomplished Major-General, and possesses the entire 
confidence, love and respect of all who know or serve under him. 
Pillow is annoyed, however, because he himself was not placed 
in chief command at Columbus — a position for which he is totally 
unfitted, as subsequent events will fully demonstrate." 

A few days after the battle of Belmont, a serious accident 
occurred, which was near terminating with fatal results to Gen. 
Polk. A large Dahlgren gun had been loaded during the above- 
mentioned battle, but not fired. It was discharged on the 11th 
November, when it exploded, caught the magazine of the piece 
which was immediately below it, and killed eight men, besides 
seriously wounding five others. Among these latter was Gen. 
Polk, who was knocked down senseless by the concussion, and 
had his clothes rent in a number of places. Fortunately, he soon 
recovered, and sustained no permanent injury. 

When the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson compelled the 



596 LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK. 

evacuation of Columbus, and created tlie necessity of selecting a 
defensive position lower down, Gen. Polk retreated, by the way of 
Humboldt, towards Corinth, where the principal portion of the 
armies of the West, under Gens. Beauregard, Johnston and him- 
self, were to unite. Ilere he commanded one of the three grand 
coiys (Tarmee which engaged in the battle of Shiloh, and was offi- 
cially noticed by Gen. Beauregard for "the foresight and military 
ability he displayed, as well as for his fearless deportment in per- 
sonally leading his command against the adversarj'," 

He accompanied Gen. Bragg in the subsequent campaign in 
Kentucky ; and the successful battle of Perrysville w\as fought 
under his direction, Bragg relinquishing to him the active com- 
mand of the field. In this action Gen. Polk distinguished himself 
by his bravery and gallantry. After the sun had gone down on 
the bloody field, and the gloom of evening overhung the scene of 
carnage and death, even then, at intervals, bodies of the two armies 
would occasionally come in collision. Brig.-Gen. Cleburne's com- 
mand, with which was Gen. Polk, just at night-fall, came upon 
an Indiana regiment. Gen. Polk was some distance in advance of 
the Confederates, and suddenly found himself in the very midst of 
the Indiana troops, who were firing briskly upon Cleburne's col- 
umns. Gen. Polk, seizing the Indiana Colonel by the shoulder, 
demanded " why he was firing upon his friends?" The Colonel 
said he did not know he was guilty of such a blunder, and asked, 
" Who are you?" "I'll show you who I am," replied Gen. Polk, 
and, rising in his stirrups, he gave the order in a firm, loud tone 
to the Indiana troops, " Cease firing !" Then saying to the Colonel, 
" You shall at once liear from me, sir," Gen. Polk rode quietly 
away. But he was no sooner out of sight than, wath accelerated 
velocity, he came dashing at headlong speed to the spot where 
Cleburne stood. Pointing to the Yankees, he exclaimed: "Let 
them have it, boys ; they are Yankees. / have been iliereP In re- 
lating the adventure to a friend, Gen. Polk described the feeling 
with which he cantered down the Federal line, not daring to put 
his horse to his speed until out of sight, as " a sensation of one screw- 
ing up his back and calculating every moment how many bullets 
would be between his shoulders." 

At the battle of Murfreesboro, Polk, now a Lieutenant-General, 
commanded the First Corps, and well shared in the terrible and 



LIEUT.-GElSr. LEONIDAS POLK, 597 

bloody struggle of those three days. The following anecdote, 
narrated in his report of this battle, illustrates the peculiarities of 
fighting in the cover of woods, at the same time that it bears wit- 
ness to the gallantry of two brave men : — " A battery," writes the 
General, " was pouring a murderous fire into the brigade of Gen. 
Maney, from a point which made it doubtful whether it was ours 
or the enemy's. Two unsuccessful efforts had been made by staff' 
ofl&cers — one of whom was killed in the attempt — to determine its 
character. The doubt caused the brigade on which it was firing to 
hesitate in returning the fire, when Sergeant Oakley, colour-bearer 
of the Fourth Tennessee Confederate regiment, and Sergeant M, C. 
Hooks, colour-bearer of the Ninth Tennessee regiment, gallantly 
advanced eight or ten paces to the front, displaying their colours, 
and holding themselves and the flag of their country erect, re- 
mained ten minutes in a place so conspicuous as to be plainly seen 
and fully to test from whom their brigade was suffering so severely. 
The murderous fire, instead of abating, increased and intensified, 
and soon demonstrated that the battery and its supports were not 
friends, but enemies. The sergeants then returned deliberately to 
their proper positions in the line unhurt, and the enemy's battery 
was silenced, and his column put to flight." 

At Chickamauga there was an unpleasant occurrence between 
Gens. Bragg and Polk ; and the latter, being charged Avith delay 
in bringing on the battle and "dereliction of duty," was deprived 
of his command. Of this event he wrote very nobly: "Without 
attempting to explain the circumstances of this disagreement, or 
prejudicing the public mind by a premature appeal to its judgment, 
I must be permitted to express my unqualified conviction of the 
rectitude of my conduct, and that time and investigation will amply 
vindicate my conduct on the field of Chickamauga." The vindi- 
cation was not insisted upon ; the investigation was recalled by 
President Davis ; and Gen. Polk was actually promoted by assign- 
ment to a separate and important command including the depart- 
ment of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana. 

He assumed this command late in December, 1863, and had 
scarcely time to organize his troops and collect the energies of his 
department for the task of obstructing Gen. Sherman's progress 
in his Mississippi expedition. The latter left Vicksburg the 1st 
February, 1864, at the head of thirty-five thousand infantry, two or 



598 LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK. 

three thousand cavalry, and from sixty to eighty pieces of artillery. 
Almost simultaneously Grierson or Smith began the march through 
North Mississippi with about ten thousand cavalry and mounted 
infantry. Mobile, at the same time, v^as threatened by water with 
the enemy's fleet of gunboats, and by land from Pensacola and Pas- 
cagoula. As Sherman advanced upon Meridian, the railroad-centre 
of the Southwestern department, Gen, Polk evacuated the place and 
retired to Demopolis in Alabama, leaving the enemy in a country 
of pine barrens, where subsistence was scant and his communica- 
tions were in constant danger of being cut. At this conjuncture of 
affairs, the co-operating column of the enemy was defeated by For- 
rest, and the disastrous retreat of Grierson and Smith upon Memphis 
was decisive of the campaign. Their retreat naturally interrupted 
Sherman's communications all along the line of the Mobile and Ohio 
Railroad, and deprived his army of an important source of supply, 
without which he was incapable of maintaining his ground. Worse 
still, the falling back of these two officers took away from him the 
cavalry force upon which he relied to prosecute his operations. 
He was left to retrace his steps in disappointment and disgrace, and 
retire to Vicksburg. 

In a congratulatory order to his army, Gen. Polk said : " The 
concentration of our cavalry on the enemy's column of cavalry 
from West Tennessee formed the turning point of the campaign. 
That concentration broke down his only means of subsisting his 
infantry. His column was defeated and routed, and his whole 
force compelled to make a hasty retreat. Never did a grand cam- 
paign, inaugurated with such pretension, terminate more inglori- 
ously. With a force three times that which was opposed to its 
advance, they have been defeated and forced to leave the field with 
a loss of men, small-arms and artillery." 

When Sherman carried his operations into North Georgia, and 
Gen. Johnston required all the force that could be brought to him, 
Lieut.-Gen. Polk was sent, with his troops, to form the lefl wing 
of the army. At Dal ton, and again at Resaca, Polk placed his 
troops with great skill, and in the retreat did effective service. It 
was in this memorable retreat towards Atlanta, that he lost his 
life. 

He was killed at Marietta, June lith, 1864, while making a 
telescopic observation of the Federal position. A projectile struck 



LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK. 599 

his left arm, passing through his body, killing him instantly. The 
body was terribly mangled ; the right arm was carried off; and the 
enemy afterwards curiously noticed on the spot, where the ill-fated 
commander had fallen, a large spatter of blood. The ghastly re- 
mains were taken to Atlanta, where funeral services were per- 
formed. 

While it can scarcely be claimed that the military reputation 
of Leonidas Polk takes rank with the first of the war, he yet 
proved an able and brave commander, and his memory will be 
cherished on many accounts. His men were devotedly attached 
to him, not only for his humane and generous character, but they 
were filled with admiration of his noble courage and personal dar- 
ing. No commander ever risked his person more in battle, or 
appealed more strongly to the sympathies of his soldiers. 

In conversation he was always genial and agreeable. As a 
friend and companion he had not his equal. His manner had an 
indescribable charm, while at the same time it was commanding. 

As an instance of his readiness in conversation and pleasant 
retort, the following is related : While stationed at Columbus, 
Kentucky, he met the Federal Gen. Buford under flag of truce, 
the rendezvous taking place on board a steamer in the river. Gen. 
Buford said that he had a toast to propose which all could drink, 
and then gave "the memor}^ of George Washington." Gen. Polk 
drank it, adding "the first Rebel." 

As an illustration of the piety and earnestness of his character, 
as well as the charm of his manner, it is related that after having 
in the course of his travels stayed at the house of a gentleman, 
previously unknown to him, as the Bishop drove from the gate his 
host remarked, " I now realize what the apostle meant when he 
said ' some have entertained angels unawares.' " 

Only the Sunday previous to his death, stopping at a poor 
cabin, he sat drying himself by the fire. Children all loved him 
instinctively ; a little girl of two years, far from clean, approached 
him ; he took her on his knee and began singing to her some nur- 
sery song — she smiled up in his face and he said to one of hLs 
aides : " I wonder if the mother would be offended if I washed this 
child's face — I do so love to kiss the innocents." 

His patriotism was beautiful and affecting. Col, Freemantle, 
an English traveller, who visited his camp in 1863, writes : "Gen. 



600 LIEUT.-GEN. LEONIDAS POLK. 

Polk told me an affecting story of a poor widow, in humble cir- 
cumstances, whose three sons had fallen in battle, one after the 
other, until she had only one left, a boy of sixteen. So distressing 
was her case that the General went himself to comfort her. She 
looked steadily at him, and replied to his condolences by saying, 
' As soon as I can get a few things together. General, you shall 
have Harry too.' The tears came into General Polk's eyes as he 
related this incident, which he concluded by saying, 'How can 
you subdue such a nation as this?' " 

Perhaps we may thank God that he did not live to realize the 
answer to this question. 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKmPiIDGE. 



CHAPTER LV. 

His life anteriour to the War. — His career in Congress. — Elected Vice-President of the 
United States. — Democratic candidate for the Presidency, 1860. — The electoral 
and popular vote of that canvass. — Address to the people of Kentucky. — Last 
service in the United States Senate. — Bold speech there against the Administra- 
tion. — Remarks upon Andrew Johnson's resolution. — Excited debate with Senator 
Baker. — Flight of Mr. Breckinridge from Kentucky. — His farewell counsels to 
her people. — Appointed Brigadier-General. — Gallantry at Shiloh. — His expedition 
against Baton Rouge. — Causes of its failure. — At Murfreesboro. — "The Bloody 
Crossing of Stono River." — At Chickamauga. — Memorial of theWestern commanders 
to the Richmond Congress. — Gen. Breckinridge's command in Southwestern Vir- 
ginia. — He is made Secretary of "War. — Accompanies President Davis in his flight 
from Richmond. — Last Council of the Confederate leaders. — Gen. Breckinridge 
escapes from the country. — Reflections upon his services and character. 

Before the war of the Confederates the name of John C. 
Breckinridge was not only one of historical distinction, but he had 
been immediately conspicuous as Democratic candidate for the 
Presidency in the great political contest that preceded the appeal 
to arms. His life was already full of public honours. At the age 
of thirty-five he had served his country abroad ; had been a legis- 
lator in his State and in the national legislature ; had been ten- 
dered the representation of the Republic in Europe ; had been 
elevated to the second office in the gift of the people, and now 
stood as candidate for the supreme honours of the Presidential 
Chair. 

He was born near Lexington, Kentucky, January 16, 1821. 
He received his education at Centre College, enjoyed the benefits 
of some months at Princeton, and after going through the requisite 
law studies at Transylvania Institute, was admitted to the bar at 



602 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

Lexington. Hoping to find a fruitful field in wliich to sow his 
knowledge, he emigrated to the Northwest ; but after something 
less than two years spent in Burlington, Iowa, he returned to his 
native State, and took up his abode at Lexington. He entered 
immediately on the practice of his profession, and met with a 
well-merited success. 

The trump of war, however, excited his military ardour, and 
the result was creditable service as a major of infantry during the 
Mexican war. lie also distinguished himself as the counsel for 
Maj.-Gen. Pillow, in the celebrated court-martial of that ofiicer. 

On tlie return of Major Breckinridge from Mexico, he was 
elected to the Kentucky Legislature, and created so favorable an 
impression as a legislator that he was elected to Congress from the 
Ashland District, and being re-elected, held his seat from 1851 to 
1855. 

Devoted attention to his legislative duties marked his career 
in Congress, and his manly eloquence impressed all political 
parties and compelled their admiration. lie introduced (on the 
SOtli June, 1852) the resolutions of respect to the memory of 
Henry Clay, who had died the day previous, and pronounced an 
eloquent and feeling eulogy, laying the fulness of his young heart 
on the grave of the great Kentuckian. It was fitting occasion, in 
view of Clay's great and pure life, to speak of " the mere leger- 
demain of politics." " If I were to write his epitaph," said Breck- 
inridge, " I would inscribe, as the highest eulogy, on the stone 
which shall mark his resting-place, ' LTere lies a man who was in 
the public service for fifty years and never attempted to deceive 
his countrymen.' " 

In debate, Mr. Breckinridge was sharp and efi'ective. With 
reference to the Compromise Measures of 1850 and the Fugitive 
Slave Law, Mr. Giddings, of Ohio, denied that the Federal Gov- 
ernment had power to pass laws by which " to compel our ofiicers 
and people to seize and carry back fugitive slaves." Mr. Breck- 
inridge briefly pushed him into an enunciation of his most ex- 
treme doctrine and then said, "Against the impotent ravings of 
this bafiled fanaticism I place the plain M'ords of the Constitu- 
tion. To his coarse and oft'ensive language I have no reply." 

With the debate on the Nebraska bill, in 1854, Thirty-third 
Congress, Mr. Breckinridge's name is intimately woven. It was 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 603 

during this discussion that his diflacultywithMr. Cutting, of New 
York, took place. Mr. Breckinridge had strongly stigmatized 
the course of the member from New York ; " the gentleman," he 
said, " may be for the bill, but his voice is that of an enemy." 
Mr. Cutting replied at length to the imputations thrown out by 
Mr. Breckinridge, when, the latter retorting, a scene of great ex- 
citement took place. The difficulty was carried out of the House, 
and for some days public curiosity was aroused at the prospect of 
a duel, the preparatory steps for such an affiiir having been taken. 
A settlement, however, was eflfected by friends, "mutually satis- 
factory and honourable to both parties." 

In recognition of Mr. Breckinridge's identification with the 
views of the Administration, President Pierce tendered to him 
the mission to Spain ; but the honour was respectfully declined, 
family matters compelling Mr. Breckinridge to this course. He 
was a delegate to the Cincinnati Convention in June, 1856. 
After the nomination of Buchanan for the Presidency, several 
names were ojffered for the second office — among others, that of 
John C. Breckinridge, proposed by the Louisiana delegation. 
Acknowledging the flattering manifestation of good-will, Mr. 
Breckinridge begged that his name would be withdrawn. On 
the first ballot, however, the Vermont delegation, through Mr. 
Smalley, believing that no Democrat had a right to refuse his 
services when his country called, cast its five votes for Breckin- 
ridge. Many other States followed, and of the total he received 
fifty-one votes, second on the list, and only eight under the first. 
Gen. Quitman. The names of other candidates were afterwards 
withdrawn, and the whole poll went for J. C. Breckinridge, at 
which the Convention rose and, with waving of handkerchiefs, and 
the loudest vocal demonstrations, directed its attention upon the 
tall and graceful delegate from Kentucky, who had been so unex- 
pectedly nominated for so exalted a post. It was long before the 
demonstration subsided so as to allow a word to be heard. At 
last, the commanding figure of Mr. Breckinridge stood fronting 
the mighty triumph. It certainly was a time to try a young 
man. He spoke briefly and becomingly. The result just an- 
nounced was unexpected, and he gave the Convention the sim- 
ple thanks of a true heart. 

He was elected Vice-President, having received 173 electo- 



604. MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

ral votes, being fifty-nine over William L. Dayton, the Repub- 
lican candidate for the same office. 

As presiding officer of the United States Senate, he took the 
chair of that eminent body early in the first session of the Thirty- 
fifth Congress, December, 1857, and, with some intermission, 
caused by the illness of his famil}^, presided during the stormy 
session which preceded the war. 

In the Presidential contest of 18G0, there were four tickets in 
the field, Mr. Breckinridge having received the regular Demo- 
cratic nomination for President. It was through an unfortunate 
division in the Democratic ranks, and the split effected by Mr. 
Douglas, that Abraham Lincoln obtained a majority of votes in 
the Electoral College. Every Free State but New Jersey had 
chosen the entire Lincoln ticket, and the triumph of a sectional 
party was complete. Mr. Breckinridge received but seventy-two 
votes in the Electoral College, and of the popular vote 850,082. 
But although defeated in this great field, his native State, Ken- 
tucky, continued to do him honour, and he received the unsoiight- 
for nomination of his party for the United States Senate. He 
was elected to succeed John J. Crittenden from the 4th March, 
1861, by twenty-nine majority on joint ballot. Ilis Senatorial 
term would have expired in 1867, if war had not intervened, and 
he had not been disturbed by other calls of duty. 

When President Lincoln made his extra-constitutional call for 
75,000 troops to subdue the South, Mr. Breckinridge addressed a 
large audience at Louisville, Kentucky, advising the course which 
the State should take in the emergency of war. He denounced 
the President's proclamation as illegal, saying, that he could not 
make his 75,000 men efficient until after the meeting of Congress. 
He proposed that Kentucky should present herself to Congress 
on the 4:th of July through her Senators and Representatives, 
and protest against the settlement of the present difficulties of 
the country by the sword ; meanwhile, that she should call a State 
Convention to aid her Congressmen in presenting such a protest. 
Should that fail, however, it was the duty and the interest of 
Kentucky to unite lier fortunes with the South. 

Although this address drew upon Mr. Breckinridge much 
unfriendly and suspicious attention in the Korth, it did not prevent 
him from taking his seat in the United States Senate on the 4rth 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 605 

of July, 1861 — Kentucky, the State which he represented, still 
remaining in the Union. His action and attitude in that body 
when the war was already raging were remarkable — standingthere 
almost alone, as the champion of the Constitution, protesting 
against hostilities, surrounded by the clamours of the Korth, 
insulted, threatened, and yet exhibiting the highest moral courage 
in his freedom of speech ; and reflecting, in his peculiar position, 
the resentment of the South, and making its constant commentary 
on the steps of the Washington authorities to despotism, A brief 
record of his acts in this famous Congress is an essential part of 
the political history of the war, and an exhibition of personal 
heroism that cannot justly be omitted from his life. 

No sooner had this Congress assembled in "Washington (on the 
4:th of July, 1861), than a resolution was introduced to approve 
the acts of President Lincoln anteriour to its sitting, designed to 
suppress the so-called rebellion. Mr. Breckinridge spoke in 
opposition to the resolution, and took occasion to deny positively 
a rumour of the newspapers to the effect that he had telegraphed 
to Jefferson Davis that the Federal Congress would not be 
permitted to meet in Washington, and that Kentucky w^ould 
furnish 7,000 men for the Southern army. Although the Senate 
listened to him with impatience, he spoke steadily and bravely. 
" Is this a contest," he said, '' to preserve the Union ? If so, then 
it should be waged in a constitutional manner. Is the doctrine 
to obtain that provinces are to be entirely subordinated to the idea 
of political unity ? Shall the rallying cry be, the Constitution 
and the Union ; or are we prepared to say that the Constitution is 
gone, but the Union survives? What sort of a Union would it 
be ? Let this principle be announced, and let us carry on this 
contest with this spirit, winking at or approving the violations of 
this sacred instrument, and the people will soon begin to inquire 
what will become of our liberties at the end of the experiment ? 
The pregnant question for us to decide is, whether the Constitu- 
tion is to be respected in this struggle, or w^hether we are called 
upon to follow the flag over the ruins of the Constitution ? I 
believe, without questioning the motives of any, the whole 
tendency of the present proceedings is to establish a government 
without limitations, and radically to change our frame and char- 
acter of government." 



C>06 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

In proof of the spirit and manner in which tlie Republican 
party proposed to conduct the contest, he referred to the speech 
of Senator Baker from Oregon, when he declared he was for 
direct war, and said that for that purpose nobody was so good as 
a dictator. " Is anything," he asked, " more necessary to show 
that, so far as that Senator is concerned, he proposed to conduct the 
contest without regard to the Constitution ? I heard no rebuke 
administered to the eminent Senator, but, on the contrary, I saw 
warm congratulations ; and the Senator declared that, unless the 
people of these States were willing to obey the Federal Govern- 
ment, they must be reduced to the condition of territories, and he 
added, they would govern them by governoi's from Massachu 
setts and Illinois." 

Mr. Baker explained. He said he was delivering a speech 
against giving too much power to the President, and was keep- 
ing his usual constitutional, guarded position against an increase 
of the standing army, and gave, as an excuse for voting for the 
bill, the present state of public affairs. He did say he would 
take some risk of despotism, and rej)eated that he would risk a 
little to save all. He hoped the States would return to their 
allegiance ; but, if they would not, he thought it better, for civil- 
ization and humanit}-, that they should be governed as territories. 

Mr. Breckinridge said the answer of the Senator proved 
what he said, and contended that it was evident that the Consti- 
tution was to be put aside. It was utterly subversive of the Con- 
stitution and of public liberty to clothe any one with dictatorial 
powers. He then referred to the speech of Mr. Dixon, of Con- 
necticut, who said, in substance, that if African slaver}'- stood in 
tlie way it must be abolished. 

Mr. Dixon had the secretary read what he did say on the 
subject, as published. 

Mr. Breckinridge said it appeared to him that the most vio- 
lent Republicans had possession of the Government, and referred 
fo the bill introduced by Mr. Poraeroy to suppress the " slave- 
holders' rebellion," and which also contained a provision for the 
abolition of slavery. He contended that the very title was 
enough to show that the Constitution was to be put aside. 

Mr. Bingham, of Michigan, asked if he contended this was 
not a slaveholders' rebellion. 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 607 

Mr Breckinridge answered with warmth, " I do, Sir ; I do." 
He referred to the refusal of the Eepublican party in the last 
session of Congress to make any compromise, although the South- 
ern leaders said they would be satisfied with the Crittenden Com- 
promise ; and even now offers of peace were ruled out of order 
in one House of Congress, which thus deliberately refused the 
last effort to avert the horrours of an internal struggle. " But 
why," he exclaimed, " utter words ? I shall trouble the Senate 
no longer. I know that no argument or appeal will have any 
effect. I have cherished all my life an attachment to the union 
of these States under the Constitution of the United States, and 
I have always revered that instrument as one of the wisest of 
human works; but now it is put aside by the Executive of the 
United States, and those acts are about to be approved by the 
Senate, and I see proceedings inaugurated which, in my opinion, 
will lead to the ntter subversion of the Constitution and public 
liberty. It is vain to oppose it. I am aware that, in the present 
temper of Congress, one might as well oppose his uplifted hand 
to the descending waters of Niagara as to risk an appeal against 
these contemplated proceedings. The few of us left can only look 
with sadness on the melancholy drama being enacted before us." 

A few days after this debate, the Senator from Kentucky 
again tried the temper of Congress, in opposition to a resolution 
introduced by Andrew Johnson, then Senator from Tennessee, 
since President of the United States, declaring that the " present 
civil war was forced upon the country by disunionists in the 
South, etc." This statement, Mr. Breckinridge encountered in 
the calm spirit of historical truth, showing that the war in its 
inception was not to maintain the Constitution, and predicting 
that its prosecution twelve months longer would make the grave 
of constitutional liberty on this continent. 

On the 1st August, 1861, he was drawn into a remarkable 
debate with Senator Baker from Oregon. This Senator, although 
violent in his political opinions, had some polish of style, was at 
times eloquent, and was an antagonist not to be despised. The 
debate took place in circumstances of great excitement, and 
soon took a personal tone, in which Mr. Breckinridge found 
himself confronting an angry audience and insulted by the gal- 
leries. He boldly proclaimed his opinions of the war, and 



608 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

reminded Senators of the dignity of the occasion. He concluded : 
'• We are making a record here. I am met by the sneers of 
nearly all those who surround me. I state my opinions with no 
approving voices, and surrounded by scowls; but the time will 
come when history will put her private seal upon these proceed- 
ings, and I am perfectly willing to abide her final judgment." 
Mr. Baker replied to the speech, and characterized it as " words 
of brilliant, polished treason, even in the very Capitol." Becom- 
ing more violent, and inflamed by the applause in the galleries, 
he asked what would have been thought if, in another Capitol, 
in another Eepublic, in a yet more martial age, a Senator as 
grave, not more eloquent or dignified than the Senator from 
Kentucky, yet with the Roman purple flying over his shoulders, 
had risen in his place, surrounded by all the illustrations of 
Roman glory, and declared that advancing Hannibal was just, 
and that Carthage ought to be dealt with in terms of peace ? 
What would have been thought if, after the battle of Cannse, a 
Senator there had risen in his place, and denounced every levy 
of the Roman people, every expenditure of its treasury, and 
every appeal to the old recollections and the old glories ? Some 
audible replies were made in the Senate : "He would have been 
hurled from the Tarpeian Rock." Mr. Breckinridge replied 
with dignity, with courage, with candour : " My opinions are my 
own. They are honestly entertained. I do not believe that I 
have uttered one opinion here, in regard to this contest, that 
does not reflect the judgment of the people I have the honour to 
represent. If they do, I shall find my reward in the fearless 
utterance of their opinions ; if they do not, I am not a man to 
cling to the forms of office, and to the emoluments of public 
life, against my convictions and my principles ; and I repeat 
what I uttered the other day, that if indeed the Commonwealth 
of Kentucky, instead of attempting to mediate in this unfor- 
tunate struggle, shall throw her energies into the strife, and 
approve the conduct and sustain the policy of the Federal Ad- 
ministration in what I believe to be a war of subjugation, and 
which is being proved every day to be a war of subjugation and 
annihilation, she may take her course. I am her son, and will 
share her destiny ; but she will be represented by some other man 
on the floor of this Senate." 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 609 

This pledge was deliberately given. But before the time came 
for its exaction Mr. Breckinridge, while conscious of his utter 
inability to restrain the war, had omitted no effort to unmask its 
true designs and to put on the record whatever protests might 
avail in history ; and the service he thus performed in Congress 
was one of real value to the South, and showed a constant atten- 
tion to her interests. On one occasion he moved the following 
as an amendment to a bill to reorganize the army of the United 
States : 

" But the army and navy shall not be employed for the pur- 
pose of subjugating any State, or reducing it to the condition of 
a territory or province, or to abolish slavery therein." 

This was rejected by the following vote, which sufficiently 
revealed the object of the war and exposed the false pretence on 
which the North was conducting hostilities : 

Yeas — Messrs. Breckinridge, Bright, W. P. Johnson, of Mo., 
Kennedy, Latham, Kesmith, Polk, Powell and Saulsbury — 9. 

JV^ai/s — Messrs. Anthony, Bingham, Browning, Carlile, Chand- 
ler, Clark, Collaraer, Cowan, Doolittle, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, 
Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Howe, Johnson, of Tenn., King, 
Lane, of Ind., Lane, of Kansas, McDougall, Morrill, Pomeroy, 
Sherman, Sumner, Ten Eyck, Wade, Willey and Wilson — 30. 

The State of Kentucky remained in the Union, and the time 
came when Mr, Breckinridge felt called upon to separate himself 
from the choice and destiny of his native State. No sooner had 
this State, corrupted by every art of the Federal Government, 
taken a determined attitude for the Union, than President Lincoln 
decided to experiment on public sentiment there, and to put in 
force the violent measures of a so-called " strong government." 
In September, 1801, ex-Governor Morehead was arrested at his 
residence near Louisville, and taken thence to Fort Lafaj'-ette, in 
New York harbour, where he was long confined. Warned by this 
outrage Mr. Breckinridge and a number of leading citizens of the 
State escaped to the Confederate camps in Southern Kentucky, 
and passed thence into Yirginia, where he openly gave in his ad- 
hesion to the Southern Confederacy. He was afterwards indicted 
for " treason " at Frankfort, Kentuck}'-, and was " expelled " from 
the United States Senate by a unanimous vote, although this 
latter penalty was absurd, as he had already resigned. His course 

39 



GIO MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

was explained and defended in an address to the people of Ken- 
tucky, from which we extract some memorable passages : 

" The United States no longer exists. The Union is dissolved. 
For a time after the withdrawal of the Southern States, and while 
there was a hope that the rupture might be healed, it might be 
assumed that the Union was not yet dissolved, and such was the 
position of Kentucky in declaring her neutrality and offering her 
mediation between the contending parties. But time has now 
elapsed, and mighty events have occurred, which banish from the 
minds of. reasonable men all expectation of restoring the Union. 
Coercion has been tried and has failed. The South has mustered 
in the field nearly as many combatants as the Korth, and has 
been far more victorious. The fields of Manassas and Bethel, of 
Springfield and Lexington, have marked with a terrible and san- 
guinary line the division between the old order of things and the 
new." 

* * -X' -;f * * -x- * -x- * 

"The exemption of persons from arrest without judicial war- 
rant, the right of a citizen to have his body brought before a 
judge to determine the legality of his imprisonment, the security 
provided against searches and seizure without -warrant of law, the 
sanctity of the home, the trial by jury, the freedom of speech and 
of the press — these and every other precious right which our 
fathers supposed they had locked up in the Constitution, have 
been torn from it and buried beneath the heel of militarj'- power. 
The States made the Constitution, placed rigid boundaries around 
that Government, and expressly reserved to themselves all powers 
not delegated. They did not delegate to the Federal Government 
the power to destroy them — yet the creature has set itself above 
the creator. The atrocious doctrine is announced by the Presi- 
dent, and acted upon, that the States derive their power from the 
Federal Government, and may be suppressed on any j)retence of 
military necessity. Th& gallant little State of Maryland has been 
utterly abolished. Missouri is engaged in a heroic struggle to 
preserve her existence and to throw off the horrors of martial 
law proclaimed by a subordinate military commander. Every- 
where the civil has given way to the military power. The fort- 
resses of the country are filled with victims seized without warrant 
of law, and ignorant of the cause of their imprisonment. 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 611 

" Tlie legislators of States and other public officers are seized 
Avhile in the discharge of their official duties, taken beyond the 
limits of their respective States, and imprisoned in the forts of 
the Federal Government. A subservient Congress ratifies the 
usurpations of the President, and proceeds to complete the destruc- 
tion of the Constitution, History will declare that the annals of 
legislation do not contain laws so infamous as those enacted at the 
last session. They sweep away every vestige of public and per- 
sonal liberty, while they confiscate the property of a nation con- 
taining ten millions of people. In the House of Representatives 
it was declared that the South should be reduced to 'abject sub- 
mission,' or their institutions be overthrown. In the Senate it was 
said that, if necessary, tlie South should be depopulated and 
re-peopled from the North, and an eminent Senator expressed a 
desire that the President should be made a dictator. This was 
superfluous, since they had already clothed him with dictatorial 
powers. In the midst of these proceedings, no plea for the Con- 
stitution is listened to in the North ; here and there a few heroic 
voices are feebly heard protesting against the progress of despot- 
ism, but for the most part, beyond the military lines, mobs and 
anarchy rule the hour." 

Referring to the peculiar condition of affairs in Kentucky, he 
said: "Gen. Anderson, the military dictator of Kentucky, 
announces in one of his proclamations that he will arrest no one 
who does not act, write, or speak, in opposition to Mr. Lincoln's 
Government. It would have completed the idea if he had added, 
or think in opposition to it. Look at the condition of our State 
under the rule of our new protectors. They have suppressed the 
freedom of speech and of the press. They seize people by mili- 
tary force upon mere suspicion, and impose on them oaths 
unknown to the laws. Other citizens they imprison without 
warrant, and carry them out of the State, so that the writ of 
habeas corpus cannot reach them. * * * * j ~^^\\\ j^qj- p^,j,. 
sue the disgraceful subject. Has Kentucky passed out of the 
control of her own people ? Shall hirelings of the pen, recently 
imported from the North, sitting in grand security at the capital, 
force public opinion to approve these usurpations and point out 
victims? Shall Mr. Lincoln, through his German mercenaries, 
imprison or exile the children of the men who laid the founda- 



612 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

tions of the Commonwealth, and compel our noble people to 
exhaust themselves in furnishing the money to destroy their own 
freedom ? Never, while Kentucky remains the Kentucky of 
old ! — never, while thousands of her gallant sons have the will 
and the nerve to make the State sing to the music of their rifles !" 

The eloquence of these passages is only exceeded by the 
interest of the historical truths which the}'' contain. As an exhi- 
bition of the constitutional heresies at "Washington, and as a pic- 
ture of the times, they furnish a forcible lesson, and add another 
to Mr. Breckinridge's former examples of manly protest against 
the progress of tyranny. He had not fled from Kentucky in 
any mean fear of personal consequences ; but, obeying the 
guidance of his principles and sympathies, he made his choice 
when there was no longer room to debate or to hesitate, and 
came to the South to oflTer his sword in behalf of a cause which 
he had vainly hoped Kentucky would finally embrace. And yet 
it was fortunate for his personal safety that he came within the 
lines of the South. Had he lingered but a few days longer in 
Kentucky, there is no doubt that he would have been trans- 
ported beyond the State, to languish in some Federal fortress 
during the pleasure of the oppressor. 

On arriving at Richmond, Mr. Breckinridge received the 
commission of Brigadier-General, and was appointed to take com- 
mand of a brigade of Kentuckians. His record in the Army of 
the West is distinguished for his frequent exhibitions of personal 
gallantry in the field. On the second adverse day of Shiloh, he 
was posted with his command so as to cover the withdrawal of 
the Confederate army, when it became necessary for it to yield 
the hard-fought field. He was approached by Gen. Beauregard, 
who told him it might be necessary for him to sacrifice himself; 
for, said he, " This retreat must not he a rout ! You must hold 
the enemy back, if it requires the loss of your last man." " Your 
orders shall be executed to the letter," said Gen. Breckinridge 
with stern pride. The enemy, sorely chastised, did not pursue; 
Breckinridge's jaded and decimated command was not put to 
the last, desperate trial of the field ; but the resolution of the 
commander deserves none the less praise, and the brief, emphatic, 
lieroic words of his assurance to Gen. Beauregard are none the 
less memorable. In the battle he was twice struck by spent balls. 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

In Jnlv, 1861, an expedition against Baton Rouge was 
entrusted to Gen. Breckinridge, now promoted a Major-General. 
On the 27tli of that month he left Vicksburg with 5,000 men; 
but so reduced was his force by dysentery, that scourge of 
armies, that when he arrived at Baton Rouge lie found that he 
could carry into action not more than 2,600 men. Yet he was 
willing to risk a battle against nearly double his own numbers ; 
and he telegraphed to Gen. Yan Dorn that he would undertake 
to capture the garrison, if the ram "Arkansas" could be sent 
down to clear the river, or divert the fire of the gun-boats. In 
momentary expectation of the arrival of this ally, the attack was 
made on the 5tli August. It was the desperate work of the bayo- 
net. Gen. Breckinridge led his division, and his presence had a 
magical effect upon the men. There was no danger he did not 
share with them. His tall form seemed ubiquitous — here, there 
and everywhere in peril, where there was an enemy to drive or 
a position to gain. A young son, Cabell Breckinridge, was in 
the action fighting near his father. The General led personally 
several charges, and towards the close of the action, coming up 
to the 4th and 5th Kentucky, who had fallen back utterly 
exhausted, he drew his sword, and with one appealing look said, 
in his clear, musical tones: "My men, charge!" The Kentuck- 
ians rushed forward with a determination that disdained danger 
and could not be thwarted. The enemy was driven a mile and 
a half from the position where he was first encountered. The 
Confederates had seized all his camps, and forced him through 
the suburbs of the town. But in the pauses of the fight, when 
the roll of musketry and the sharp crack of artillery were hushed, 
all ears were strained to catch some note of intelligence from the 
ram " Arkansas." Long since she should have been engaging 
the enemy's gunboats, which had already poured a dreadful rain 
of shot and shell into the midst of Breckinridge's troops. But 
there was no welcome sound from her guns. At last came the 
unwilling thought that a fatal accident had befallen her. " We 
had listened," says Gen. Breckinridge, " in vain for the guns of the 
' Arkansas.' I saw around me not more than 1,000 exhausted 
men, who had been unable to procure water since we left the 
Comite river. The enemy had several batteries commanding the 
approaches to the arsenal and barracks, and the gunboats had 



G14 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

already reopened upon us with a direct fire. Under these circum- 
stanceSj although the troops showed the utmost indifference to 
dano-er and death, and w^ere even reluctant to retire, I did not 
decui it prudent to pursue the victory further." Slowly and sul- 
lenly the men fell back, although exposed to the heavy firing of 
the gunboats. About one mile and a half from the town they 
were halted, and the poor wearied, jaded soldiers threw them- 
selves upon the ground to rest. 

Gen. Breckinridge had not accomplished the success he had 
designed and desired. Had the "Arkansas" participated in 
the action, the victory would doubtless have been one of the 
most brilliant of the war. But it was an occasion of proud con- 
gratulation tliat the troops who made the land attack had done so 
well; and Gen. Breckinridge, expressing his sense of their gal- 
lant aonduct, wa*ote : " After marching all night through a coun- 
tiy destitute of water, you attacked an enemy superiour to you 
in numbers, admirably posted, and supported by the fire of their 
fleet ; you forced them from tlieir positions, taking prisoners and 
several flags, killing and w^ounding many, destroying most of 
their camps, and large quantities of public stores, and driving 
them to the bank of the river, under cover of the guns of tlieir fleet. 
The inability of the ' Arkansas ' to reach the scene of conflict 
prevented the victory from being comj^lete ; but you have given 
the enemy a severe and salutary lesson, and now those, who so 
lately were ravaging and plundering this region, do not care to 
extend their pickets beyond the sight of their fleet." 

At Murfreesboro' \ve find again that record of personal gal- 
lantry which made Gen. Breckinridge so remarkable, and gave 
him a constant title to admiration even in the story of defeat. 
In the first day's battle, when Rosecrans rallied his centre and 
crowned it with a powerful artillery, Breckinridge's division was 
brought up and formed for the assault of the hill held by tlie 
enemy. The troops advanced to the attack under Gen. Breckin- 
ridge in person ; but the Federals, who had recovered from their 
reverses, and knew the advantages of the ground, poured in so 
heavy a fire from tlieir powerful artillery, that the Confederates, 
although evincing great bravery, could not stand against it, and 
retired. Again, in the "bloody crossing of Stono River," Avhich 
closed the third day's action, was Breckinridge called to the front, 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 615 

and directed to carry by assault the position of the enemy. Again 
the attack failed ; the enemy's artillery fire devoured the advanc- 
ins: columns; two thousand brave Confederates fell in less than 
half an hour ; but the gallant commander was constantly abreast 
the storm, ringing ont the command, " Up, my men, and charge." 
It was a grand and terrible scene. The enemy's artillery opened 
a sweeping fire from the ridge ; a whirlwind of minio balls and 
shot and shell filled the air ; and meeting and contending with 
this tempest of death, were shattered columns of devoted men, 
with great gaps in their ranks, which they yet closed up at the 
word of command, going forward firmly, dashing through sheets 
of fire, recoiling, advancing, and anon swaying in the excitement. 
Again and again they were rallied. Rushing forward with 
almost superhuman devotion, completely enveloped by the tor- 
nado, they reached within a hundred paces of the coveted crest, 
but were again repulsed. Night at last closed in, and the men 
were compelled to relinquish the attempt to take this stronghold ; 
and darkness closed that troubled day, and gave to history one 
of the bloodiest chapters of the war. 

In the battle of Chickamauga, Breckinridge's division, composed 
principally of Kentucky and Louisiana troops, was included in the 
corps of Lieut.-Gen. D. H. Hill, and encountered one of the 
bloodiest actions of the day. In the last charge it advanced with 
intrepidity under a severe fire, and dashed over the left of the ene- 
my's entrenchments. Gen. Hill had ordered another Major-General 
to make this attack, telling him that Breckinridge's men, after the 
severe action of the morning, were scarcely in a condition to make 
another charge. The ofiicer replied that the orders given him by 
Gen. Polk were to support Breckinridge and he could do nothing 
else. Gen. Hill at once rode up to Gen. Breckinridge, told him 
of the conversation, and asked if his troops were ready to renew 
the attack. He answered, "yes." "Well then," said Hill, 
"move promptly, and strike hard," The division responded to 
the order with a cheer, moved off in beautiful style, made a most 
glorious charge, and soon had the enemy in full retreat. 

The termination of the campaign of 1863 constituted an inter- 
esting period in the history of the Southern Confederacy. The 
public mind was deeply concerned at the prospect of the future, 
especially with reference to supplies of men and material for the 



6M MAJ-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

continued prosecution of the war. Up to this time Gen. Breckin- 
ridge had been constantly with the armies of the "West ; he knew 
their wants, and his broad and enlightened mind had contem- 
plated important changes in the military policy of the country. 
His reflections in this regard are very interesting, and show that 
his intelligent counsel to the Richmond authorities was as valu- 
able as his services in the field. In December, 1863, a memorial 
was read in the Confederate Congress, signed by Gen. Breckin- 
ridge and other officers of the Army of Tennessee. It was brief 
and compact, as follows : 

"In the existing condition of affairs it is hoped your honourable 
bodies will pardon the variance from custom of addressing you 
from the army. It is done in no spirit of dictation, but in the 
conscientious conviction that the necessities of the country demand 
the voice and labour of all, and that delay, even for thirty days, 
in enacting proper measures, may make present disorders incura- 
ble, and the dangers of the moment omnipotent for our destruc- 
tion. 

" In our opinion, it is essential to retain, for the term of dur- 
ing the war, without reorganization, the troops now in service ; 
to place in service immediately, for the same term, all other white 
males between eighteen and fifty years of age, able to perform 
any military duty ; to provide for placing in service, at the dis- 
cretion of the President, for the same term, all white males 
between fifteen and eighteen, and between fifty and sixty jenvs 
of age; to prohibit substitutes; to prohibit exemption, except 
for the necessary civil offices and employments of the Confede- 
rate States and the several States ; to prohibit details, except for 
limited times, and for carrying on works essential to the army ; 
to prohibit discharges, except in cases of permanent disability, 
from all duty ; to prohibit leaves and furloughs, except under uni- 
form rules of universal application, based, as far as practicable, on 
length of service and meritorious conduct ; to prohibit, to the great- 
est extent, the details of able-bodied officers and men to posts, hos- 
pitals, or other interiour duty, and to place in service as cooks, 
labourers, teamsters, and hospital attendants, with the army and 
elsewhere, able-bodied negroes and mulattoes, bond and free. 

" These measures, we think, if promptly enacted as laws, so 
a6 to give time for organizing and disciplining the new material. 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 617 

would make our armies invincible at tlie opening of the cam- 
paign of next year, and enable us to win back our lost territory 
and conquer a peace before that campaign shall be ended. 

" "We beg further to suggest that, in our opinion, tlie dissatis- 
faction, apprehended or existing, from short rations, depreciated 
currency, and the retention of old soldiers in service, might be 
obviated by allowing bounties, with discriminations in favour of 
retained troops; an increase of pay; the commutation to enlisted 
men of rations not issued ; and rations, or the value thereof, to 
officers." 

In the campaign of 1864, Gen. Breckinridge was detached for 
important service in South-western Yirginia, commanding two 
brigades of infantry and a battalion of artillery. Having united 
his forces with Imboden's brigade of cavalry, or mounted infantry, 
he met and defeated Sigel at New Market on the 15tli May, 
breaking up this part of Grant's combination against Richmond, 
and joining Gen. Lee at Hanover Junction, as he moved back 
upon the capital. His infantry then numbered less than 3,000 
muskets, although the enemy, in accounting for his victory over 
Sigel, had put it at 15,000 ! In the subsequent months of this 
year, Gen. Breckinridge assisted in the defence of Lynchburg, 
and accompanied Gen. Early in his expedition towards Wash- 
ington and the consequent campaign. 

In the last winter of the war he was made Secretary of War, 
a post for which he was eminently fit, and to which it would 
have been well if he had been assigned when he first made, in 
1861, the unqualitied offer of his services to the Confederate gov- 
ernment. Brilliant though he was as a soldier, and with a record 
of services that had traversed nearly the whole breadth of the 
Confederacy, the character of his mind and the experience of his 
life qualified him better for the council than the field ; and when 
he was appointed Secretary of War, people wondered that he had 
not been chosen such long before, especially as this office, for 
years, had gone begging, and had been filled with men who were 
mere experiments on the public confidence. His short term of 
executive office in Kichmond was acceptable to all parties, and 
was marked by an infusion of vigour which was gratefully 
noticed by intelligent men, although it was too late to save the 
Confederacy. 



618 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

Gen. Breckinridge accompanied President Davis in his flight 
from TliehmontI, as one of liis small party of personal adherents ; 
but, in JSTorth Carolina, he was persuaded by tlie President to visit 
the camp of Gen. Johnston, and consult with him on the terms 
of surrender. He was present at the famous conference at Dur- 
ham Station, when Gen. Sherman offered certain important guar- 
anties for the pacification of the country, which were afterwards 
revoked. He rejoined President Davis at Charlotte, where the 
fragments of a few brigades, less than 800 men, attended tiie 
fugitive chief of the Confederacy, determined to march, if pos- 
sible, to Gens. Taylor and Forrest, in Alabama. The force moved 
through South Carolina with great deliberation. At Abbeville, 
in this State, was held the last Confederate council of the war; 
and here President Davis exhibited his peculiarly sanguine tem- 
perament and his utter want of realization of the extremity of 
his cause. A member of the council thus describes the pitiable 
scene : " Mr. Davis desired to know, from his brigade com- 
manders, the true spirit of the men. He presided himself. 
Besides Gens. Breckinridge and Bragg, none others were present 
than the live brigade commanders. Mr. Davis was apparently 
untouched by any of the demoralization which prevailed — he 
was affable, dignified, and looked the very personification of high 
and undaunted courage. Each officer gave, in turn, a statement 
of the condition and. feeling of his men; and, when urged to do 
so, declared his own views of the situation. Iti substance, all 
said the same. They and their followers despaired of success- 
full}^ conducting the war, and doubted the propriety of prolong- 
ing it. The honour of the soldiery was involved in securing Mr. 
Davis's safe escape, and their pride induced them to put off sub- 
mission to the last moment. They would risk battle in the 
accomplishments of these objects, but would not ask their men to 
struggle against a fate which was inevitable, and forfeit all hope 
of a restoration to their homes and friends. Mr. Davis declared 
that he wished to hear no plan which had for its object only his 
safety — iJiat 2,500 hrave men xoere enough to jprolong iJie luar 
until the ixinic had passed away, and they would then he a 
nucleus for thousands more. He urged us to accept his views. 
We were silent, for we could not agree with him, and respected 
him too much to reply. He then said, bitterly, that he saw all 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 619 

hope was gone — that all the friends of the South were prepared 
to consent to her degradation. When he arose to leave the room, 
he had lost his erect bearing, his face was pale, and he faltered 
so much in his step that he was compelled to lean npon Gen. 
Breckinridge." * 

At Washington, Georgia, the small force of cavalry that yet 
escorted what remained of the Confederate government divided, 
and Gen. Breckinridge, accompanied by a few Kentucky soldiers, 
took a different route from that fatally pursued by President 
Davis and his party. He had proceeded but a short distance 
when he learned of the surrender of the Southwestern depart- 
ment and of the vicinity of a battalion of Federal cavalry. He 
formed his forty-five men ; he told them of his resolution to risk 
an attempt at escape ; but he counselled them to surrender, for 
he wished them to return to Kentucky — to their homes and km- 
dred. He forbade any efibrt to assist his escape. "I will not 
have," he said, " one of these young men to encounter one hazard 
more for my sake." Taking an affectionate farewell of the 
brave men who had adhered to him to the last extremity, and 
bidding them return to the loved land of their birth, he went off 
into exile. 

At Durham Station, Gen. Breckinridge had been satisfied of 
the termination of the war on a basis that afforded no protection 
to the civil rights of those who had participated in it. Acting 
on this conviction, he determined to accept the alternative of 
exile rather than to incur proscription in his own land. He has 
since the war resided at different times in Europe and in Canada, 
and is reported to live in circumstances of great poverty. Fallen 

* The account of this conference strongly displays the justice of an estimate of 
President Davis' character made by the author ui another work — " The Lost Cause." 
In that work (at page 685) the author wrote : 

" The speeches of the President offended the sober sense of the Confederacy ; and 
it was frequently said that he attempted to blind the people as to the actual condition 
of affairs, and never dealt with them in a proper spirit of candour. Bnt this estimate 
of President Davis is probably a mistaken one. He was not insincere ; in all his 
strange and extravagant utterances of confidence he probably believed what ho spoke ; 
and to the last he appears never to have apprehended the real situation. Ho was 
blinded by his own natural temper ; in the last moment he was issuing edicts, play- 
ing with the baubles of authority, never realizing that he was not stiU the great 
tribune ; he was sustained by a powerful self-conceit, and a sanguine temperament ; 
and he went down to ruin with the fillet of vanity upon his eyes." 



020 MAJ.-GEN. JOHX C. BRECKINRIDGE. 

from his high estate of worldly prosperity, an impoverished wan- 
derer in foreign lands, lie yet has an abiding love in the hearts ot 
his countrymen and a fee of glory which, though disputed now, 
posterity will surely render. 

Gen. Breckinridge has a striking and noble presence. There 
is no description which fits his person so well as the single word 
"superb," with its Latin significance and classic associations. 
Perfect and well-proportioned in all his parts, dignified without 
a sign of stiff"ness, graceful as a w^oman, a veteran of society, and 
a man who for his age has liad the largest political experience in 
his generation in America, he appears born both to command 
and to please. A prominent, bulging brow, with deep-set eyes, 
large and brilliant, gives a massive grandeur to the face, while 
the lower features show the chiselled, clear-cut marks of noble 
bfood. He was admired as one of the handsomest men in the 
Confederacy. lie was always a favourite of society ; he was one 
of those men who always did and said just what tlie occasion 
demanded ; and in his public speeches and addresses, although he 
gave evidences of a great intellect and was numbered among the 
orators of America, he was yet more remarkable for that nice 
adjustment of the proprieties which shows the cultivated scholar, 
and constitutes the perfect gentleman. 



MAJ.-GENERAL MANSFIELD LOVELL 



CHAPTER LVL 



His early life and politics. — Story of the fall of New Orleans.— Importance of its lino 
of water-defence. — Gen. Lovcll's hands tied by red tape at Richmond. — Not to 
be blamed for the disaster. — His gallant services after the loss of Nov,'- Orleans. — 
President Davis refuses to give him a command nuder Johnston. 

The father of Mansfield Lovell was a citizen of New York ; 
but he came on the maternal side from a Georgian Himily. He 
was born in the District of Columbia, was educated at West Point, 
and, graduating there, was promoted to a second lieutenancy in 
the Fourth Artillery, July 1, 1842. In the Mexican war he acted 
as aide-de-camp toMaj.-Gen. Quitman, was wounded in the assault 
of Chapultepec, and was brevetted captain for gallant and meri- 
torious conduct in that battle. When the war broke out between 
the North and South, Gen, Lovell had resigned his commission in 
the United States army, and was living in New York city, and 
discharging the duties there of deputy Street-Commissioner. He 
determined to abandon his office, and to cast in his lot with the for- 
tunes of the South, He had always been a strong Democrat, his 
antecedents were Southern, and he had been a slave-owner all his 
life. In the old army he had made considerable reputation as an 
artillerist ; and he came to Richmond with high military and polit- 
ical recommendations. 

The name of Mansfield Lovell is connected with one of the 
greatest and most astounding disasters of the war ; and in this 
respect his reputation has suffered so unjustly that it is difficult even 
now to obtain his dues, and to recall the real merits of the man. 
That disaster was the fall of New Orleans, and its story is one of 
the most remarkable of the war. Having obtained the commission 



022 MAJ.-GEN. MANSFIELD LOVELL. 

of Major-Genera], Lovell assumed command of tlie department of 
Louisiana on the 18th October, 18G1. Before quitting Virginia, 
he had an interview at Fairfax Court- House with Gren. Beauregard, 
to consult with him and obtain the benefit of his skill as an engi- 
neer, with reference to the defences of New Orleans. It was agreed 
that it was very important that the channel of the river below the 
city should be obstructed, and that the safety of New Orleans de- 
pended chiefly on the line of ivaier-defence. 

But it was with respect to this critical part of the defence, that 
Gen. LovelLwas rendered powerless, and his hands tied by red 
tape at Richmond. Secretary Mallory of the Navy, insisted that 
none of the matters belonging to that department should pass out 
of his control, and when Gen. Lovell applied for authority to make 
sucli dispositions of the naval force as he might deem best to aid 
in the defence of the city, he was flatly refused, and told to keep 
within the strict limits of his duty, as commanding only the army 
at New Orleans. And even within these limits, he was obstructed 
by the authorities at Richmond, who could not be persuaded that 
the city was in any real danger, and who indulged the fancy that the 
enemy only contemplated an attack from the upper portion of the 
river, and that there was to be fought the battle that would decide 
the tenure of the Mississippi. It was in this fatal delusion that 
New Orleans was stripped of troops, to be sent to Columbus and 
adjacent points; and, that while other places on the sea-coast were 
defended with ten-inch columbiads, the great commercial metropolis 
of the South had, on her line of defence, nothing above an eight- 
inch, and, on some parts of it, no other reliance than double-barrel 
guns of the militia, and 32-pound carronades. 

Yet Gen. Lovell did all that was possible. It may be safely 
said that the interiour lines of fortification adopted and com- 
pleted by him were a sufficient defence of the city against a land 
attack by any force the enemy could probably bring. But the 
true danger lurked in another direction ; and while the New 
Orleans journals contained accounts of the wonderful preparations 
of defence, the range of forts at every few miles, the impassable 
rafrs, the vast chains, the combinations of a thousand kinds, which 
no enemy could resist, they had no idea of the slight tenure on 
which hung the fate of their city. 

The raft — consisting of a line of eleven dismasted schooners — 



MAJ.-GEN. MANSFIELD LOVELL. 623 

between Forts Jackson and St. Philip, having been broken by a 
storm, it remained for the enemy only to try the problem that 
" ships under steam can pass forts in open channel;" and having 
once run the gauntlet, they had but little to fear from the Confederate 
naval structures in the harbour, as the two iron-clads which were 
designed to rival the exploits of the " Yirginia-Merrimac " were, 
through the almost criminal neglect of the Navy Department, either 
uncompleted or unserviceable. This is the whole story of the New 
Orleans disaster. A few days' bombardment of two forts, eighty 
miles distant, which are not substantially injured, and in which 
scarcely any lives are lost, and a triumphant fleet steams quietly up 
to the city and demands its surrender! The world was amazed at 
the event. The Southern Confederacy received a blow in the fall of 
New Orleans from which it never recovered. This city was re- 
garded the key to the Valley of the Mississippi, and its posses- 
sion almost of vital consequence, in enabling the Confederates to 
preserve their hold upon the Trans-Mississippi, and obtain vast 
supplies of grain and meat necessary to the support of the army. 

Gen, Lovell was not to be blamed. It was by the incompetency 
of the water-defence that the city was virtually surrendered ; and 
Gen. Lovell did all he could do, which was to save his little army 
— less than 3,000 men — and stores, so as to make renewed effort to 
hold the Mississippi Eiver in another position. But popular 
indignation in the South demanded a victim, and, instead of being 
intelligently directed against the Richmond Cabinet, it seized upon 
the man whose name was intimately connected with the disaster. 
The appointment of Lovell had never been agreeable to the people 
of New Orleans, or of his department. They had murmured con- 
stantly against him; they did not know him ; they did not trust 
him ; the}'- would have preferred Bragg to Lovell, and Beaure- 
gard to either. Now they accused him as the author of their 
great calamity. There was great injustice in this popular pas- 
sion ; and it is only now, when it is perceived how much at vari- 
ance it is with historical truth, that justice can be hoped for Gen. 
Lovell, and grateful recognition of a patriotism which no sense of 
personal wrong could corrupt or subdue. 

After the fall of New Orleans. Gen. Lovell fought gallantly at 
Corinth and Coffeeville ; and it was he who fortified Columbia. 
lie afterwards resigned his rank as commander of the department. 



G2-i MAJ.-GEN, MANSFIELD LOVELL. 

and was relieved by Gen. Van Dorn. The clamour of the people 
still followed biin, and was only satisfied when he was withdrawn 
to comparative obscurity, waiting orders, or nobly volunteering 
his services on subsequent battle-fields of the war. But it is es- 
pecially remarkable that, during this persistent popular censure. Gen. 
LovcU enjoyed for all the time the highest opinions and utmost 
confidence of his military superiours, the most distinguished leaders 
of the Confederacy. Gen. Beauregard vindicated his part of the 
defence of New Orleans, and testified to its skill.* Gen. Lee, a few 



* We give below some testimony of Gen. Beauregard (never before published) 
relative to the defence of New Orleans, and exculpating Gen. Lovell in the court of 
inquiry summoned in his case. It is interesting as an expression of the judgment 
and skill of one universally acknowledged the first engineer in the armies of the 
Southern Confederacy. 

Question. — From your knowledge of the country about New Orleans, and the 
peculiarities, would j'ou think it the proper plan to concentrate the main strength in 
artillery at Forts Jackson and St. Philip, in connection with obstructions at that 
point, rather than to place the guns at many points along the river which the enemy 
would have to pass in succession? 

ANSWER.^The true plan for the defense of a river from the passage of steamers, 
etc., is, when practicable, to obstruct its navigation with rafts, piles, torpedoes, etc., 
at the most favourable points for such obstructions, then to defend the latter by a 
concentration of the greatest number of and heaviest guns at one's command, separ- 
ating them from each other, however, by traverses, when necessary to protect them 
from an enfilade fire. 

Such was the system proposed by Gens. Bernard, Totten, Majors Chase, Dela- 
field, etc., when they planned Forts Jackson and St. Philip, and tlie batteries contig- 
uous to those works. Detached batteries are very good when properly located and 
supported, otherwise they are apt to be overpowered successively by a naval attack, 
or to be taken in the rear by a land force. 

It is evident that since the enemy's steamers and gunboats passed the concen- 
trated fires of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, etc , etc., without nuich injury, they 
would have done so even more easily if our guns had been scattered over 75 miles, from 
those works to New Orleans. Moreover, the river being very high and the country 
between those two points being low, it could easily have been submerged by cutting 
the levee at night near any batteries which might have been constructed along the 
river, thereby cutting off their garrisons from succour or retreat. 

I will remark that Forts Jackson and St. Phihp were placed that low down the 
river to protect from the enemy's depredations as much of the country liable to culti- 
vation as practicable, and also to increase the obstacles to a regular siege, resulting 
from the lowness of their sites, which does not admit of the construction of boyaux 
and parallels, especially when the river is high. 

Question.— The battle having been fought at the forts, and the fleet having 
passed, do you consider New Orleans a tenable military position — did its evacuation 



MAJ.-GEN. MANSFIELD LOVELL. 625 

days after the fall of New Orleans, wrote to him: "I think you 
may confidently rely upon the judgment of intelligent and reflect- 
ing men for the justification of your course, as soon as the facts, 
as they actually existed, shall be known." Gen. Joseph E. John- 
ston continued to have such a high opinion of his military abilities 
that, when he took command of the Army of Tennessee, in 1864, 
he desired his services, and proposed to give him command of one 
of the corps of his army. But even these high testimonials did 
not suffice to restore Gen. Lovell to the confidence of the people, 
or to the favour of the Executive. The Secretary of "War endorsed 
a disapproval on his application for a command under Gen. John- 

by the infantry force necessarily follow as a matter of course when the enemy were 
in full possession of the river ? 

Answer. — The forts commanding the river having been passed, New Orleans 
necessarily lay at the mercy of the enemy's heavy guns afloat, which, owing to the 
high stage of the river, commanded the banks on both sides to the swamp skirting 
the river at a distance from one-half to one mile. An army of 50,000 men or more could 
not then have saved the city from destruction. "Whether the latter was desirable at 
the time, before New Orleans had experienced Butler's iron rule, could only have 
been determined by the State or Confederate authorities, who should have consid- 
ered whether the destruction of so large a city would have done more injury to the 
enemy than ourselves. 

It is evident that to him Baton Rouge is a better strategic point than New 
Orleans, and the destruction of the latter would have relieved him of the necessity of 
keeping a garrison of 5,000 or 6,000 men there to guard it — this act would have been 
a mere empty bravado, a wanton destruction of an immense amount of private and 
public property, which would have shaken at the time the Confederacy to its very 
centre, and thrown upon its Government a helpless population of about 150,000 non- 
combatants (men, women, and children), to feed and provide for, when already over- 
burthened to supply the wants of the armies in the field. 

When the Russians burnt Moscow, it was for the purpose of annihilating Napo^ 
Icon's army of 300,000 or 400,000 men, which had invaded that country. When 
they again consented to the slow but certain destruction of Sebastopol, it was to 
prevent the allies from taking possession of its immense docks, arsenals, military 
stores, and the fleet which had sought refuge under the guns of its forts. The pos- 
session of the harbour of Sebastopol would also haye afforded them a magnificent 
base for future operations in the Crimea. 

As I have already stated, the Mississippi River being extremely high, the streets 
of New Orleans could have been swept from one extremity to the other by the heavy 
guns of the enemy's fleet, or had Commodore Parragut preferred reducing the place 
to submission without using his guns, it would have been only necessary to have 
cut the levee above and below the city, and the whole population would have been 
utterly defenseless and in a starving condition in a few days. Without the com- 
mand of the Mississippi River, New Orleans is not worth holding as a military or 
strategic position. 

40 



626 MAJ.-GEN. MANSFIELD LOYELL. 

ston, saying, in his opinion it would be injudicious to place a 
corps under command of Gen. Lovell, and it would not give con- 
fidence to the army. The paper came back from President Davis, 
endorsed, " Opinion concurred in." 

For these unjust and cruel prejudices there remains for Gen. 
Lovell only the satisfaction of history. An unfortunate man, 
placed in difficulties from which he could not extricate himself; a 
sacrifice, as many another, to the faults and errours of President 
Davis's administration, he cannot be judged harshly, or without 
reference to the circumstances which surrounded him; and no 
account of his military life can deny his ingenuity, his activity, 
his ceaseless industry, or justly question his fidelity and earnest 
patriotism in the cause of the Southern Confederacy. 



MAJ.-GEN. EARL VAN WM, 



CHAPTER LVn. 

His capture of Federal troops in Texas at the beginning of the war. — Temporary 
command in North Virginia. — Assigned to the Trans-Mississippi. — Battle of Elk 
Horn. — Correspondence with Gen. Curtis on civilized warfare. — Gen. Van Dorn 
crosses the Mississippi River. — The Department of Louisiana. — Heroism of the 
first defence of Vicksburg. — Battle of Corinth. — Gen. Van Dorn removed from 
command. — His reflections on the sentence. — His command of cavalry. — Destroys 
Grant's depot of supplies at Holly Springs. — Dies by the hand of private vio- 
lence. — His genius as a commander. 

The career of Earl Yan Dorn in the war was not well sustained ; 
hut it was very brilliant in some of its parts ; and it was termi- 
nated by a painful and well-remembered tragedy. lie was a native 
of Port Gibson, Mississippi. He graduated at West Point in 1842, 
and entered the Seventh Inflmtry. He served in the Mexican 
"War, was promoted first lieutenant, March 3, 1847, and was bre- 
vetted captain, April 18, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct 
in the battle of Cerro-Gordo. He obtained another brevet, that of 
major, at Contreras and Churubusco, and was wounded in entering 
the city of Mexico. 

The State of Texas seceded from the Union on the 1st Feb- 
ruary, 1861, and volunteer forces were at once started to capture 
the Federal garrisons and munitions of war within her limits. 
Van Dorn, holding from the State a Commission as Colonel, organ- 
ized an expedition, consisting of not more than eighty men, 
which by a brave enterprise, on the 20th April, 1861, captured 
the Federal steamer. Star of the West, in the harbour of Galves- 
ton, with the troops on board of her. Under cover of night he 
put off" in the lighter which had been used in transporting the 



628 MAJ.-GEN. EARL VAN DORN. 

Federal soldiers ; and, approaching the side of the steamer, whose 
commander thought he was about to take on his own men, the 
band of daring Texans, swift as lightning, were over the bul- 
warks, and in instant possession of the vessel. Not satisfied with 
this exploit, Col. Van Dorn, collecting a larger number of volun- 
teers, proceeded by water to Saluria, and on the 24th April, 
anchored within sight of the schooners having on board United 
States troops to the number of 400 or 500, under command of 
Major Sible3^ A summons to surrender was obeyed ; and the 
officers were released on parole and the men on their oaths not 
to take up arms against the Southern Confederacy. 

These early exploits in Texas obtained considerable fame for 
Van Dorn, and, when he offered his services at liichmond, he was 
commissioned a Major-General, He had a temporary command in 
Gen. Beauregard's army after the battle of Manassas ; but when 
that army was re-organized, Van Dorn was sent "West, and assumed 
command of the Trans-Mississippi department, which comprised 
the larger part of the States of Missouri and Arkansas, the State 
of Louisiana as far south as Eed Kiver, and the Indian territory 
west of Arkansas. In this department he cooperated with Gen. 
Price, and in conjunction with his forces fought the brilliant but 
fruitless battle of Elk Horn. 

Before this battle. Gen. Van Dorn had meditated an expedition 
by which he hoped to capture St. Louis. But while at Pocahon- 
tas, Arkansas, he received a despatch from Gen. Price, informing 
him that the enemy had forced McCulloch and himself out of 
Missouri, down into Boston Mountains, where the two Confederate 
forces lay on opposite sides of the mountain without cooperation, 
and without the recognition of a common head. This was the occa- 
sion of Gen. Van Dorn assuming command, which he did, riding 
across Arkansas to Boston Mountains, accompanied only by his 
chief of staff and a single aide ; and, on reaching there, he imme- 
diately reorganized the army into a division of cavalry, under 
Mcintosh, and two corps of infantry and artillery under Price and 
McCulloch. In the battle which ensued, there is good reason to 
suppose that if the subordinate commanders and the troops had 
been in a better condition of discipline, a complete surprise of the 
force of Gen. Curtis would have been effected, and the Federal 
army beaten in detail. 



MAJ.-GEN. EARL VAN DORN, 629 

The following correspondence between the commanders of the 
two armies consequent on the battle of Elk Horn, is interesting as 
a commentary on the text of " rebel barbarities ; " and the reader 
will notice the honourable and chivalrous terms of Gen. Van Dorn's 
reply on the subject, characteristic of himself and faithful in its 
representation of the true spirit of the South: 

Headquarters Trans-Mississippi District, March 9, 1862. 
To iJie Commanding Officer of the United States Forces on Sugar 
Creeh, Arkansas: 

Sir : — In accordance with the usages of war, I have the honour 
to request that you will permit the burial party whom I send from 
this army, with a flag of truce, to attend to the duty of collecting 
and interring the bodies of the officers and men who fell during 
the engagement of the 7th and 8th inst. 

Yery respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Earl Van Dorn, 
Major- General Commanding Army. 

Headquarters Army of the South-West, ) 

Pea Ridge, March 9, 1862. ) 

Earl Van Dorn^ Commanding Confederate Forces : 

Sir : — The General commanding is in receipt of yours of the 
9th, saying that, in accordance with the usages of war, you send 
a party to collect and bury the dead. I am directed to say all pos- 
sible facilities will be given for burying the dead, many of which 
have already been interred. Quite a number of your surgeons 
have fallen into our hands, and are permitted to act under parole ; 
and, tinder a General Order from Maj.-Gen. Halleck, further liberty 
will be allowed them, if such accommodations be reciprocated by 
you. The General regrets that we find on the battle-field, con- 
trary to civilized warfare, many of the Federal dead who were 
tomahawked, scalped, and their bodies shamefully mangled, and 
expresses a hope that this important struggle may not degener- 
ate to a savage warfare. By order of 

S. E. Curtis, 

Brigadier- General. 
T. J. McKnwEY, Acting Assistant Adjutant-General. 

The following communication was received from Van Dorn, in 
response to the above : 



630 MAJ.-GEN. EARL VAN DOEN. 



Headquabters Trans-Mississippi District, ) 

Van Buren, Ark., March 14, 1862. J 

General: — I am instructed by Maj.-Gen. Van Dorn, com- 
manding this district, to express to you his thanks and gratifica- 
tion on account of the courtesy extended by yourself and the 
ofiicers under your command, to the burial party sent by him to 
your camp on the 9th inst. 

He is pained to hear from your letter, brought to him by the 
commanding officer of the party, that the remains of some of your 
soldiers have been reported to you to have been scalped, toma- 
hawked, and otherwise mutilated. 

He hopes you have been misinformed in regard to this matter — 
the Indians who formed part of his forces having for many years 
been regarded as civilized people. He will, however, most cor- 
dially unite with you in repressing the horrours of this unnatural 
war; and that you may cooperate with him to this end more 
effectually, he desires me to inform you that many of our men, who 
surrendered themselves prisoners of war, were reported to him as 
having been murdered in cold blood by their captors, who were 
alleged to be Germans. The General commanding feels sure that 
you will do your part, as he will, in preventing such atrocities in 
future, and that the perpetrators of them will be brought to justice, 
whether German or Choctaw. 

The privileges which you extend to our medical officers will 
be reciprocated, and as soon as possible means will be taken for an 
exchange of prisoners. 

I am, sir, very respectfully yours, 

D. H. Maury, A.A.G. 

From the battle-field of Elk Horn, Gen. Yan Dorn retired to 
Van Buren, where he refitted his army. Perceiving that the enemy 
could accomplish nothing more in Arkansas at that time, and ap- 
preciating the importance of concentrating the Confederate armies, 
he proposed to add his force to the command of Gen, A. S. John- 
ston, on the other side of the Mississippi River. He made the 
offer to Gen. Johnston, and almost simultaneously received from 
that commander a general order to undertake the movement, if 
practicable. When it is remembered that at this time Van Dorn 



MAJ.-GEN. EAKL VAN DORN. 631 

had the position of a sort of viceroy, commanding the vast region 
of the Trans-Mississippi, with all its resources for war yet unde- 
veloped, the action by which he sought, from conviction of the 
true interests of the country, to surrender a position so important 
and great, and become corps or division commander in another 
army, furnished a rare instance of self-abnegation, and shows an 
honesty of purpose much to be commended. He applied himself 
with all diligence to effect the meditated junction with Johnston, 
and was anxious to do so before a decisive battle was fought. His 
troops were moved from Yan Buren to Memphis with great dis- 
patch; but the 2d Texas regiment was the only portion of his 
army that reached Corinth in time to participate in the battle 
of Shiloh. Shortly thereafter Gen. Van Dorn joined Beauregard, 
adding 15,000 effectives to his army. 

In June, 1862, Gen. Van Dorn was appointed in the place of 
Lovell, to command the " Department of Louisiana ;" and on as- 
suming command, he published an order advising "all persons 
living within eight miles of the Mississippi River to remove their 
families and servants into the interiour, as it was the intention to 
defend the Department to the last extremity." The most brilliant 
service of his military life, rendered in this department, was the 
first successful defence of Vicksburg, which obtained for it the title 
of " the heroic city." The fortifications around Vicksburg had 
not been commenced until five days after the fall of New Orleans. 
The enemy commenced his bombardment in the last days of May, 
1861, and continued it at intervals for two months, at one time 
concentrating the fire of more than forty vessels of war and mortar- 
boats. The following passionate address of Gen Van Dorn to his 
troops shows the spirit that animated the defence : 

Headquarteus Vicksburg, June 28, 1862. 

Defenders of Vicksburg: — The enemy are attempting to 
destroy this beautiful city, and a heroic people have determined to 
sacrifice it rather than give it up to the invaders of their homes. 

It may be considered, therefore, in ruins, for it may be battered 
down and burnt up, but the earth it stands upon is ours, and will 
never be given up. The shot and shell now playing through these 
streets, through lovely villas, and sacred churches, and deserted 
homes, are but " sound and fury, signifying nothing." 



632 MAJ.-GEN. EARL VAN DORN. 

The contest will commence when the enemy attempts to put 
his foot upon our soil. Stand coolly by your guns, and deliver 
your fire only when he comes too near. 

Earl Van Dorn, Major-Qeneral Commanding. 

The enemy abandoned this first attempt on Vicksburg, after 
the Confederate ram " Arkansas" succeeded in running the gaunt- 
let of the whole upper-fleet, and arrived safely under the batteries 
of the city. Gen. Van Dorn congratulated his troops, entitled 
Vicksburg as invincible, and wrote in his rhetorical way : " When 
the enemy is master of the great river that flows at your feet, and 
which has become the eternal custodian of your names and glory, 
every wave that ripples by its shores will crimson with your blood, 
and every hill that looks down upon it will be the sepulchre of a 
thousand freemen." * He never lived to see the sequel. 

It was said of " the heroic city" that she had furnished twenty- 

* The following lines on the defence of Vicksburg were " dedicated with respect 
and admiration to Maj.-Gen. Earl Van Dorn :" — 
For sixty days and upwards 

A storm of shell and shot , 

Rained round as in a flaming shower, 

But still we faltered not ! 
"If the noble city perish," 

Our grand young leader said, 
"Let the only wall the foe shall scale 

Be ramparts of the dead ! " 

For sixty days and upwards 

The eye of heaven waxed dim, 
And even throughout God's holy morn, 

O'er Christians' prayer and hymn, 
Arose a hissing tumult. 

As if the fiends of air 
Strove to engulf the voice of faith 

In the shrieks of their despair. 

There was wailing in the houses. 

There was trembling on the marts, 
"While the tempest raged and thundered, 

'Mid the silent thrill of hearts ; 
But the Lord, our shield, was with us, 

And ere a month had sped, 
Our very women walked the streets 

With scarce one throb of dread. 



MAJ.-GEN. EARL VAN DORN. 633 

three full companies of volunteers during the first year of the war ; 
that she had also voluntarily contributed as much money to carry 
on the war as any city of equal population in the Southern Con- 
federacy ; and, lastly, that she had conquered and driven back two 
combined Federal fleets, one of which conquered and subdued 
New Orleans, the largest city in the Confederacy, and the other 
the rising and prosperous city of Memphis. It was in fact Yicks- 
burg that gave the lesson to the Southern Confederacy that iron- 
clad gun-boats were not invulnerable. , 

Gea. Van Dorn's happy and brilliant fortune at Yicksburg did 
not follow him to the field. When Bragg made his famous cam- 
paign into Kentucky, in 1862, Gen. Van Dorn was left to take 
care of ihe enemy in "West Tennessee, and on the 2d of Octo- 
ber he fought the battle of Corinth. Here he failed to carry the 
strong works of the enemy, and was censured for the desperate- 
ness of his enterprise and a want of proper combination in the 
attack. His sentence for that misadventure was severe. He wrote 

\ And the little children gamboled — 
\ Their faces purely raised, 
Just for a wondering moment, 

As the huge bombs whirled and blazed I 
Ihen turning with silvery laughter 
To the sports that children love, 
Thrice mailed in the sweet, instinctive thought, 
Tliat the good God watched above. 

Yet the hailing bolts fell faster 

From scores of flame-clad ships, 
And above us denser, darker. 

Grew the conflict's wild eclipse, 
Till a solid cloud closed o'er us, 

Like a type of doom and ire, 
Whence shot a thousand quivering tongues 

Of forked and vengeful fire. 

But the unseen hands of angels 

These death-shafts warned aside, 
And the dove of heavenly mercy 

Ruled o'er the battle tide ; 
In the houses ceased the waihng, 

And through the war-scarred marts 
The people strode with the steps of hope 

To the music in their hearts. 
Columbia, S, C, August 6, 1862. 



634 MAJ.-GEN. EARL VAN DOEN. 

of it: "The attempt at Corinth has failed, and in consequence I 
am condemned, and have been superseded in mj command. In 
my zeal for my country, I ma}'- have ventured too far with inade- 
quate means, and I bow to the opinion of the people whom I 
serve. Yet I feel, if the spirits of the gallant dead who now He 
beneath the batteries of Corinth see and judge the motive? of 
men, they do not rebuke me, for there is no sting in my conscience, 
nor does retrospection admonish me of error, or of a disregard of 
their valued lives." 

The true history of the attack on Corinth furnishes much 
excuse for Gen. Van Dorn, so far as it appears that he n?ade the 
attempt with inadequate means. In the month of August he had 
endeavoured to get Gen. Price to join him in an attack on Corinth, 
when the combined force would have been 80,000 men, and there 
was every prospect of success. But Price, under the orders 
received from Gen. Bragg, could not make the junction until the 
battle of luka was fought, and by that time the combined forces 
had, from various causes, been reduced to about 17,000 men. The 
Federal commander. General Grant, had about S0,000 men in 
the works of Corinth, besides the corps under Ord, which Gen. 
Maury fought at the Hatchie Bridge, which was reported 12,000 
strong. The consequence of an attempt against these odds was 
a bloody field and a disastrous repulse. 

But Van Dorn's services in the war did not cease at Corinth ; 
and with a diminished command, mostly cavalry, he performed 
several exploits in the following winter of th3 war, the most adven- 
turous and valuable of which was the destruction of the grand 
depot of Grant's army at Holly Springs, Mississippi. On the 
19th December, 18G2, he approached the town. The pickets, if 
there were any, gave no alarm, and whilst a brigade, stationed 
on rising ground, acted as a reserve. Van Dorn dashed into the 
place at the head of his cavalry. Little resistance was attempted. 
A few of the Federal cavalry escaped, but the majority of the 
garrison of upwards of a thousand men surrendered. Col. Mur- 
phy was taken prisoner, and most of the Federal officers — sur- 
prised in the houses in which they were lodging — were marched 
off in succession to Van Dorn's temporary headquarters, and, 
with their men, paroled. An eye-witness of the confusion and 
hunt after concealed officers describes some ludicrous scenes. One 



MAJ.-GEN. EARL VAN DORN. 635 

lady said : " The Federal commandant of tbe post is in my house ; 
come and catch him ;" and a search was instituted, but without 
success, when the woman insisted that he was there, concealed ; and 
finally, after much ado, the unhappy Col. Murphy was pulled out 
from under his bed, and presented himself in his nocturnal habili- 
ments to his captors. The Provost-Marshal was also taken, and, 
addressing Gen. Van Dorn, said : " Well, General, you've got us 
fairly this time. I knew it. I was in my bed with my wife when 
I heard the firing, and I at once said : ' Well, wife, it's no use closing 
our eyes or hiding under the clothes, we are gone up.' " After 
the captures commenced the war of destruction. Vast accumula- 
tions of flour, cotton and stores of all sorts were burned, the rail- 
way was torn up, the station and locomotives set on fire, and at 
length, the flames spreading to a building used as a magazine, 
caused it to blow up, and led to the demolition of a considerable 
portion of the town. 

Oil the 8th May, 1863, the career of Gen. Van Dorn was ter- 
minated, and the commander, who had so often braved death in 
his country's service, fell b}'' the hand of private violence. He was 
shot dead by Dr. Peters, a citizen of Maury county, Tennessee. 
The common story of the newspapers was that the unhappy com- 
mander had been surprised with Mrs. Peters in a private room at 
his headquarters, in circumstances which left no doubt of the dis- 
honour of 'her husband, who took his vengeance on the spot. It 
is not our office or inclination to go into the details of this domestic 
tragedy. But it is proper to notice that the staff officers of the de- 
ceased General published a card in the newspapers, questioning 
the common rumour, and suggesting the belief that he had fallen a 
victim to a private enemy, who, as he had before the act very well 
prepared his means of escape, might also have provided a story of 
justification. The homicide escaped into the Federal lines, and 
was never brought to trial. 

The career of Gen. Van Dorn was scarcely a just test of his 
merits as a commander. That he did have some of the best gifts 
of a good General is apparent, despite the disasters that clouded his 
reputation, and drove too readily from the public mind the happier 
records of his life. The excuse of bad luck is not easily admitted 
into the judgments of history ; but Van Dorn was so plainly a suf- 
ferer from circumstances that it may be pleaded in his behalf with 



636 MAJ.-GEK. EARL VAN DORN. 

some effect. He never gave way to disaster, and he had that fine 
courage which draws new inspirations from misfortune. His extri- 
cation of his army from the forks of the Hatchie, after its defeat at 
Corinth on the previous day, with 22,000 men under Rosecrans 
attacking his rear, and 12,000 under Ord attacking his flank, was 
a remarkable instance of resource, energy, and unconquerable 
pluck. But it was as a commander of cavalry that Van Dorn was 
in his best element. His small, lithe figure was an embodiment of 
grace and activity ; his eyes struck fire into men, and could yet 
speak eloquently the tenderest language of love ; he bad a brilliant 
and sentimental courage. A gallant companion-in-arms writes : 
"Gen. Van Dorn was tbe most daring man I ever knew. He 
loved danger for its own sake ; he rejoiced in the smoke and tumult 
of battle ; there his blue eyes blazed, his nostrils dilated, and he 
appeared the impersonation of animated, high, exulting courage. 
Withal, he was kind, gentle, and thoughtful of others. He was 
incapable of a warm feeling of enmity, or of envy, or of personal 
resentment. His ear and hand were open to every appeal to bis 
humanity, and no unprotected being failed to find in him a friend." 
It may be added that his great virtue, courage, was excessive, and 
ran into something like a defect. If anything brilliant was before 
his eyes, he could not see, or estimate justly the difficulties which 
lay between him and his prize. He was impatient of success, which 
he yet desired in a higher sense than personal gratification; and in 
his devotion to the cause he fought for, he was as unselfish as he 
was brave. 



BRIG.-GEN. BENJAim MCCULLOCH. 



CHAPTER LYIII. 

Early romance of his life. — His fame as a huuter and pioneer. — Service in the Texan 
■war of independence. — Battle of San Jacinto. — The Mexican War. — Adventure 
at Buena Vista. — Appointed United States Marshal for Texas. — His life in "Wash- 
ington City. — His appearance and manners at the capital — Relations to President 
Buchanan. — Seizes the property and arms of the United States at San Antonio. — 
Surrender of Gen. Twiggs. — McCulloch's command in the Indian Territory. — His 
part in Price's Missouri campaign. — Defects of his mihtary character. — Killed in 
the hattle of Elk Horn. 

The life of Benjamin McCulloch, anteriour to the war, was of 
singular interest. It illustrated mucli of the romance of the 
American frontier. Living almost constantly on the limit of the 
American settlements ; remarkable for his singular capacities for 
Indian warfare ; following the track of adventure with wild cour- 
age and hardihood, he had already made a name for history, and 
was pointed out as one of those famous adventurers whose lives 
were in transition between the backwoods and the present stan- 
dards of civilization. He had originated the name of "Texas 
Ranger," and, with Walker, Hays, and Chevallie, had given it a 
world-wide renown. Twenty-six years before he drew his sword 
for Southern Independence he had served in the battle of San 
Jacinto ; had afterwards passed his time on the Texan frontier in a 
succession of hardships and dangers; and subsequently in the 
Mexican War, on the bloody field of Buena Vista, he had received 
the public and official thanks of Gen. Taylor for his heroic conduct 
and services. A career, running through scenes so remarkable and 
extensive, may be traced with interest from its commencement. 

The subject of our sketch was born in Rutherford county, Ten- 
nessee, about the year 1814. His father was aide-de-camp to Gen. 



638 BRIG.-GEN. BENJAMIN MCCULLOCH. 

Coffee, and served under Gen. Jackson in the Creek war, fighting 
at Talladega, Tallahassee, and the Horse Shoe Bend, and exhibit- 
ing that reckless daring which is peculiarly efficient against savages, 
and which since rendered his son so famous. Young McCulloch 
was fourteen years old when his father removed to the western 
portion of the State, and settled in Dyer county. This neighbour- 
hood was then a wilderness, covered with swamps and dense for- 
ests, and infested by wild animals. The principal meat of the 
settlers was what was obtained in the chase. 

Ben McCulloch acquired here his first fruits of fame, and 
became renowned throughout the settlement as an expert and suc- 
cessful hunter. A youth spent in such occupations could not fail 
to kindle a love of enterprise and roving adventure in the bosom 
of the ardent Tennesseean. At the age of twenty-one he set out 
for St. Louis, to join a company of trappers on their way to the 
Rocky Mountains. Much to his disappointment, he arrived in 
that city after the expedition had started. He then applied for 
admission into a company of Santa Fe traders ; but here again he 
was unsuccessful, as their number was complete. He returned 
home, yet cherishing there, until other and greater opportunities, 
his resolution to seek his fortune in distant and dangerous lands. 
The erection in Texas of the standard of revolt against Mexico 
aroused his spirit, and gave him the opportunity of danger and 
adventure which he coveted.* 

*A friend relates the following interesting circumstance attending McCuUocli's jour- 
ney to Texas — showing how at least one of his disappointments proved his good for- 
tune, and was turned to his safety. 

"Soon after his arrival homo, McCulloch called on Col. David Crockett, who was 
making up an expedition to go to Texas, and take part in the revolution that had 
then broken out against the authority of Mexico. The whole southwest at that time 
was alive with sympathy for the Texans, and numbers were daily flocking to their 
standard. McCulloch agreed to accompany Col. Crockett on his expedition. Nacog- 
doches had been appointed as the rendezvous, and the Christmas of 1835 was named 
as the day for the meeting, when, as ' Old Davy' said, they were to make their Christ- 
mas dinner off the hump of a buffalo. By some mischance McCulloch did not arrive 
until the January following, and finding the party gone, ho proceeded alone to the river 
Brazos, where he was taken very ill, and did not recover until after the fall of the 
Alamo. His disappointment was very great at not being able to join the gallant 
band of patriots at the time ; but it afterwards proved very fortunate for him. CoL 
Travis, in whoso command ho would have been, after having sustained a siege for 
thirteen days, with only one hundred and eight Texans against Santa Anna's army, 
fell with his brave little band, having previously killed nine hundred of the enemy I " 



BRIG.-QEN. BENJAMIN M'CULLOCH. 639 

He entered the Texan army as a private, joining it at Grass 
Plant, where it had assembled under Gen, Houston. He was at- 
tached to an artillery company, in which he remained until the 
battle of San Jacinto, where Santa Anna was made prisoner, and 
his army of 1,500 killed or captured. He participated in that 
famous struggle, and was a sergeant in charge of the gun on 
the right. There were two guns on that field, known as "the 
Twin Sisters," under the command of Capt. Isaac N, Moreland, of 
Georgia, These guns subsequently fell into the liands of the Mexi- 
cans, but were eventually recaptured and left at New Orleans, 
where the}^ remained until a few years ago, when they were pre- 
sented to the Texan government by the State of Louisiana. 

At the termination of the Texan war, McCulloch settled in 
Gonzales county, where he remained for some time. He was 
elected a member of the State Congress, as it was then called, 
which honourable position he held until war broke out between 
the United States and Mexico, He then resigned his seat, and, 
like many of the Texans who had fought in the Texan revolution, 
he hurried forward to meet his old enemies. He raised a company 
of "Mounted Rangers," and joined Gen. Taylor on the Rio Grande, 
after the battle of Matamoras, not having been able to organize his 
command soon enough to participate in the first battles of the war. 
His company was used principall}'' for scouting, and acted gene- 
rally under his own direction, or the immediate command of Gen. 
Taylor. It formed part of the regiment of Texan Rangers, com- 
manded by Col. Jack Hays, which marched with Gen. Worth to 
assist in storming the Bishop's Palace in Monterey. In all the 
operations of Gen. Worth's division, McCulloch distinguished him- 
self, and obtained the repeated commendations of his superiours. 

Just before the battle of Buena Vista, McCulloch performed a 
daring exploit and did one of the most valuable services of the war. 
With one companion, he left camp in the night, and proceeded to 
make a reconnoissance within the lines of the enemy, then advanc- 
ing with Santa Anna at their head. He entered the Mexican lines, 
where he spent several hours in close observation within hearing of 
the groups gathered around the watch-fires. He discovered the 
numbers of the enemy, learned his plans, and obtained all the infor- 
mation necessary to Gen. Taylor. He immediatly returned, and 
related to that officer the result of his reconnoissance; and, upon 



640 BRIG.-GEN. BENJAMIN M'CULLOCH. 

that information, it is said that Gen. Taylor acted, in retreating to 
the strong point, Aguas Nuevos, where the battle of Buena Yista 
was fought. For this service and his conduct on the field, McCul- 
loch received the thanks of Gen. Taylor, and obtained the admira- 
tion of the whole army. 

For gallant conduct during the siege of Monterey, McCulloch 
received an appointment in the quartermaster's department, with 
the rank of Major, which position he either never accepted, or 
served in but a short time. In 1855, upon the organization of 
four new regiments of horse in the United States array, he was 
tendered by President Pierce the appointment of Major in one of 
the regiments, which favour he declined, and returned to his home 
in Texas. He was afterwards appointed United States Marshal 
for the District of Texas, which office he held up to the year 1859, 
when he resigned it. 

In the two or three years which intervened between this time 
and the war for the independence of the South, McCulloch lived 
principally in Washington City, where he was often remarked by 
curious crowds for his hard and weather-beaten visage, and the 
terrible services in which he had acquired his morose countenance 
and habits of solitude. He was often seen on Pennsylvania Avenue 
companionless, taciturn, and with an air of harsh abstraction about 
him ; or he was pointed out in hotels where, cynical and silent, he 
contemplated the idle and dainty crowds in their rounds of fashion- 
able dissipation. But despite these repulsive appearances, it is 
said that he was really fond of society ; only it must be of his 
choice, and then he was open and lively in his conversation. His 
friends claimed for him some of the finest qualities of mind and 
temper. His intellect was calm and vigorous; he was independent 
in his opinions, and very firm ; his manners and habits were very 
simple, and his attachments to his friends were ardent and strong, 
and had the virtue of inspiring them with as much of admiration 
as of love. One of them testifies : "Adversity had upon McCul- 
loch's noble nature the effect of fire upon frankincense, causing 
the purest and finest essences to evaporate." He was a marked 
favourite of President Buchanan, and, by some means, had acquired 
such intimacy with him as almost to constitute himself a member 
of his household. It was said that there was no favour at the 
White House which he could not obtain, and that the President 



BRIG.-GEN. BENJAMIN M'CULLOCH. 64:1 

sought to honour him in every way. It was at the instance of Mr. 
Buchanan, when the difficulties in Utah were the occasion of most 
serious ahirm to his administration, that McCulloch was persuaded 
to undertake a special mission to pacify the hostile tribes of Indians 
in that territory. He returned to Washington in the midst of 
the Secession excitement. He again enjoyed the confidence of the 
President ; and it was noticed that he was on terms of equal in- 
timacy with all the Southern leaders. He certainly did not dis- 
guise his opinions to obtain so delicate a position between the Gov- 
ernment and the advocates of a sectional breach of its authority. 
He was an ardent advocate of Secession from the beginning, and of 
the firm opinion that it would be followed by war. He was assidu- 
ous in his endeavours to stimulate the States to prompt action, 
and to prepare themselves for any emergency. 

It will be recollected by those who witnessed the period of 
excitement in Washington, which followed the announcement of the 
election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency, with what interest 
McCulloch was regarded, and how the newspapers made his name 
one of peculiar terrour. It was McCulloch who was popularly 
reported at the head of the conspiracy which Gen. Scott imagined 
was to blow up the Capitol, assassinate President Lincoln, and lift 
the standard of revolt in the Federal city. His movements were 
watched with the most persistent curiosity, and were reported in the 
newspapers, with every variety that excited imaginations could sug- 
gest with reference to time and place. Even when Washington 
was garish with arrivals and parades of Northern troops, it was 
suspected that McCulloch lurked in the vicinity with some myste- 
rious force. A Eicbmond journal said : "We are not enough in 
the secrets of our authorities to specify the day on which Jeff. 
Davis will dine at the White House, and Ben. McCulloch take 
his siesta in Gen. Sickles's gilded tent. But it will save trouble if 
the gentlemen will keep themselves in readiness to dislodge at a 
moment's notice." 

But for many weeks before the date of these anticipations, Mc- 
Culloch was faraway, with a different matter in hand. lie had 
been suddenly missed from the circles of excitement in Washing- 
ton. " The Commissioners of Public Safety," in Texas, had called 
him to his adopted State, and had unanimously selected him to 
raise and command men for the purpose of securing the property 

4] 



642 BRIG.-GEN. BENJAMIN M'CULLOCH. 

and arms of the United States at San Antonio. There were at 
this time about 2,500 United States troops within the boundaries 
of Texas, and the enterprise of conquering the State from such a 
force looked serious, and demanded dispatch in its execution. 
" But," said McCulloch," to Texans a moment's notice is sufficient, 
when their State demands their services." On the 16th February, 
he stood before San Antonio with 400 men, and demanded the 
surrender of its garrison. It was conceded without bloodshed, 
and with the ultimate result of an agreement, on the part of Gen. 
Twiggs, that all the forts in Texas should be forthwith delivered 
up, the United States troops to march from the State by way of 
the coast. By this measure there was obtained for the State more 
than $1,000,000 worth of proyjcrty ; its soil was freed, without 
bloodshed or trouble, from the presence of the Federal troops ; and 
all opportunities were closed for the hostile force to go to New 
Mexico or Kansas, and possibly there organize a new army, or 
menace the Texan frontier in future. 

Subsequently McCulloch accepted a mission to go abroad to 
procure arms for the State of Texas. But before he had arranged 
for this. President Davis appointed him Brigadier-General, and 
assigned him to the command of the Indian Territory. lie was 
soon on a larger and more active field than he had anticipated, 
and his first important services in the war were rendered in coop- 
erating with Gen. Price in his famous Missouri campaign. 

The events of this campaign are given elsewhere in this work 
with more detail than is necessary here in associating them with 
the name of Gen. McCulloch. Although he claimed to be the 
superiour officer in the operations in Missouri, and the claim was 
generally allowed by the State officers, yet the honours of the cam- 
paign belong peculiarly to Gen. Price, and it was his inspiration 
that achieved the most of its wonders and glories. Indeed, can- 
dour compels the statement that the conduct and figure of Gen. 
McCulloch, in the first campaign of Missouri, were not very cred- 
itable; that he was unnecessarily harsh in compelling Price to 
serve as a division commander under him ; and that he did some 
acts of very questionable generalship. He had the misfortune of 
a high and domineering temper ; he repelled advice ; and his con- 
tempt and disdain of the enemy were such that he was apt to treat 
the counsels of prudence as the suggestions of timidity. His 



BRIG.-GEN. BENJAMIN M'CULLOCH. 643 

experiences of Indian and Mexican warfare Lad made him a saga- 
cious partizan and a desperately brave man ; his activity was won- 
derful, his senses keen, his personal courage marked, even in the 
company of the most famous adventurers ; but it is not this school 
of prowess which makes great Generals and qualifies men to lead 
large armies against equal and well-organized foes. Gen. McCul- 
loch, bravest of the brave, was not above those errours which, 
while they may not actually disfigure courage, yet rob it of much 
of the utilit}^ which elevates and ennobles it. He was headstrong, 
over-confident and' imperious. At the battle of Oak Hill, he was 
virtually surprised by the enemy, and disdained his attack until 
the last moment; and he was saved only by that steady valour of 
Southern troops, which so often in the war redeemed the errours 
of the commander. A great victory was obtained, and Gen. 
McCulloch himself announced: "The General-in-chief of the 
enemy is slain, and many of their other general officers wounded; 
their army is in full flight ; and now, if the true men of Missouri 
will rise up and rally around our standard, the State will be 
redeemed." But, so far from realizing these anticipations. Gen. 
McCulloch withdrew from the campaign which was directed by 
Price towards Lexington, and aimed to destroy the enemy's power 
on the Missouri River. Retiring to Arkansas, he committed the 
errour of dividing the forces whicb should have contained the 
enemy in Missouri, and discouraging its population by withdraw- 
ing in their face at the very time he was calling them to arms. 

Perhaps Gen. McCulloch might have retrieved these early 
errours, contracted in a narrow though active school of military 
experience, and developed better generalship as the war extended, 
and called for large and comprehensive purposes. But Providence 
did not permit it, and death terminated his career in the first year 
of the war. He fell in the battle of Elk Horn, which was fought 
under the direction of Gen. Van Dorn, and where he commanded 
one of the wings of the Confederate army. It was a weary and 
bloody contest ; an engagement of fifteen hours, extending through 
the larger portion of two consecutive days. The field exhibited 
sterner features of war than had yet been seen. Some of the Texan 
soldiers had used their large, heavy knives, and there were cleft 
skulls lying in pools of blood. A remarkable feature of the battle, 
and one adding strange horrours to it, was the employment of 



644 BRIG.-GEN. BENJAMIN M'CULLOCH. 

several thousand Indian warriours on the Confederate side. An 
actor in this extraordinary drama of arms says : "As the sound of 
cannon came the third or fourth time, like the noise in spring-time 
on the marshy margin of a lake, only more shrill, loud, and appa- 
rently more numerous than even the frogs, came the war-whoop 
and hideous yell of the Indians." The battle was at its height, and 
Gen. McCulloch was leading the victorious advance on the enemy's 
left, when a fatal bullet arrested his career. He fell within the 
vortex of fire. He was struck by a minie rifle ball in his left 
breast, and died of the wound about eleven o'clock in the night. He 
insisted that he would recover, and turned his head incredulously 
from the physician when told that he had but brief time to live. 
His remains were taken to Texas, and buried at Austin. His 
untimely end was greatly lamented, and there was not a pulse 
among the thousands of brave hearts, who called the flag of the 
" Lone Star " their own, that did not beat with emotion for the 
loss of the commander who, whatever his faults, had defended that 
flag with the devotion of many years, and a courage of immortal 
naemory. 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MOEGAN. 



CHAPTER LIX. 



Morgan raises a company in the Mexican war. — " The Captain." — His natural apti- 
tude for arms. — His personal appearance. — His escape from Kentucky. — A trick on 
the enemy. — His early services on Green River. — How he captured six Federals. 
— Adventure with a telegraph operator. — His first expedition into Kentucky. — A 
new engine of war. — Freaks of the telegraph. — The affair of HartsvLlle. — His expe- 
dition through Kentucky, Indiana and Oliio. — Its captures and ravages. — Gen. Mor- 
gan a prisoner. — Cruelty and indignities of the enemy. — His escape from the Ohio 
penitentiary. — Detailed account of his escape and travel through the enemy's lines. 
— An ovation at Richmond. — His new command on the Virginia border. — Disfavour 
and prejudice of the Government. — Gen. Morgan's last expedition into Kentucky. 
— Its defeat. — Affair of Mt. Sterling. — Cruel slanders of Gen. Morgan. — Attempts 
an expedition to Bull Gap, East Tennessee. — Surprised and kiUed by the enemy. 
— Different versions of his death. — A brief review of his campaigns. 

John H. Mokgax was tlie oldest of six brothers, all of whom, 
save one too young to bear arms, did military service for the 
Southern Confederacy. He was born at Huntsville, Alabama, 
June 1, 1825, was reared in Kentucky, and was a lineal descend- 
ant of Morgan of revolutionary fame. 

In 1846, when the call came for " more volunteers " in the 
Mexican war, John H. Morgan, then scarcely of age, raised a 
company ; but before it could enter upon active service the news 
came that a treaty of peace had been concluded. Upon the dis- 
banding of the company, the conduct of young Morgan was 
remarkable. He indemnified out of his own means every man 
for the loss of his time during the period of recruiting. It was 
at this time that he gained the title of captain ; and so familiar 
and dear was the word that, for a long time, when he was ascend- 
ing the heights of fame in the great war between Nortli and 
South, and had made a name for the world's tongue, many of the 



Q4l6 MAJ.-GEN, JOHN H. MORGAN. 

Kentuckians in his command refused to recognize or apply any 
other title to him than that of "The Captain." 

Shortly after the Mexican war Morgan purchased an establish- 
ment, and engaged in the manufacture of jeans, linseys and 
bagging for the Southern market. He was detained by the sick- 
ness and death of his wife from taking up arms at the outset of 
the w^ar, which President Lincoln had fully declared in his pro- 
clamation of April, 1861 ; but some months thereafter he secretly 
collected a little band of followers, not over twenty-five in number, 
and left his home, making his way to Green River, where he 
reported himself to the Confederate officer in command " ready 
for duty." 

Such was the small beginning of a career that was to obtain the 
applause of his countrymen and the wonder of the enemy. Mor- 
gan's little command was rapidly increased by the arrival of exiles 
from Kentucky, who knew w^ell the worth and valour of the man 
as a leader. He was not a graduate of "West Point ; but he had 
a natural aptitude for arms, a restless activity, and a faculty of 
adaptation in his manners which made him a favourite in every 
grade of society. He was six feet high, broad-shouldered and 
magnificently proportioned ; had soft auburn hair, gray eyes, a 
fair complexion, and a smile of wonderful sweetness. Of exces- 
sive animal spirits and a jovial disposition, he was at home among 
the rudest people; and although there he would sometimes display 
an uncultivated humour and join in the coarsest entertainment,yet 
he readily adapted himself to whatever company he entered, and 
his perfect self-possession and modest, unassuming style of speech 
indicated him in the highest classes of society as a genuine and 
thorough Kentucky gentleman. His general appearance was that 
of a gentleman of leisure, — his carriage exceedingly graceful and 
manly, M'ith rather an inclination to be fastidious in his dress. 
But the man who graced a parlour, and practiced all the accom- 
plishments of polite society, presented another picture in the 
field. There the neat dress, the dainty gloves, les objets de luxe 
were laid aside, and " the Captain " appeared wearing a grey 
roundabout, a wide-brimmed black felt hat, with boots drawn 
over his pantaloons, and presenting that carelessness of attire 
which denotes severe and earnest work. At the commencement 
of the war, he was possessed of great wealth, all of which he left 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 647 

in the hands of the enemy when he came South. In this I'espect 
his generosity was unbounded ; he always dispensed his means 
with a liberal hand ; and he was one of those who would have 
spent his last dollar on the score of principle, or shared it with 
the necessity of a friend. 

Morgan's escape from Kentucky was attended by a little 
incident showing his characteristic adroitness and fondness for a 
practical joke. An order had been issued by the authorities of 
Kentucky, from head-quarters at Frankfort, that all the arms in 
the State should be forthwith forwarded to the State armory, there 
to be inspected and repaired for the use of the " State Guard," 
who were to maintain what the Lincolnites in disguise called 
Kentucky's " Armed Neutrality." Morgan, then captain of the 
"Lexington Rifles," was suspected of having evil intentions 
against the peace and quiet of the Federal Government, and 
hence the Lincolnites kept a sharp eye on the guns held by his 
company. He knew that they had determined to get the arms 
out of his hands, and he had made up his mind that they should 
not have them. So in the dead of night the guns were removed 
some distance from the city, and the boxes, in which they were to 
have been placed, were neatly filled with bricks instead, and 
marked, " Guns from Capt. Morgan, State Armoiy, Frankfort." 
The next day, while the boxes were exposed to view at the depot, 
and Morgan's political enemies were chuckling over the acquisi- 
tion, he, at the head of his brave band, was thirty miles on his 
road to the South, having in his possession eighty excellent United 
States rifles. 

The command of Morgan, upon reporting, were placed with 
some other cavalry upon duty on the Green River. Here he at 
once began a series of daring exploits, unequalled for their bold- 
ness and the manner of their execution. As the leader of a parti- 
san force he was in his element, and for months the country 
between Green River and Bacon Creek was scoured by his rough- 
riders to the terrour of the enemy. 

After the fall of Fort Donelson, he was attached to Gen. 
Hardee's command, and put to watch the movements of the Fed- 
erals, which he not only did eflectually, but enacted a number 
of daring adventures within the lines of the enemy, even approach- 
ing their stronghold at Nashville. While the main armies were 



648 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN n. MORGAN. 

resting, lie and his active partisans were at work. They attacked 
scouting parties ; they rushed into the camps of regiments and 
carried off trains of wagons, and scarcely a day passed when 
they did not bring in a lot of prisoners. A picket of six of the 
enemy was once taken by Morgan himself. Riding, alone, towards 
Murfreesboro', he discovered the picket in a house, and having 
on a Federal overcoat, assumed a bold front, and confronting the 
sergeant rebuked him for not attending properly to his duty, and 
ordered that the whole party should consider themselves under 
arrest, and surrender their arms. The soldiers, not doubting for a 
moment that they were addressed by a Federal officer, delivered 
up their muskets. As they were marched into the road, with 
their faces turned from the camp, the sergeant said, " We are 
going the wrong way. Colonel." " We are not," was the reply ; 
'' I am Captain Morgan." 

On one occasion, with forty of his men, he apj^eared at Gallatin, 
twenty-eight miles from Nashville. After capturing all the 
Union men in the place, and confining them in a guard-house, 
Capt. Morgan, dressed in a Federal uniform, proceeded to the 
telegraph office at the railroad-depot, a short distance from the 
town. Entering the office, the following conversation took place 
between him and the telegraph-operator: Capt. Morgan. — 
" Good day, sir. What news have you ? " Operator. — "Noth 

ing, sir, except it is reported that that d d rebel, Capt. John 

Morgan, is this side of the Cumberland with some of his cavalry. 

I wish I could get sight of the d d rascal. I'd make a hole 

through him larger than he would find pleasant." While thus 
speaking, the operator drew a fine navy revolver and flourished 
it as if to satisfy his visitor how desperately he would use the 
weapon in case he should meet with the famous rebel captain. 
"Do you know who I am?" quietly remarked Capt. Morgan, 
continuing the conversation. " I have not that pleasure," 
remarked the operator. "Well, I am Capt. Morgan," responded 
that gentleman. At these words the operator's cheeks blanched, 
his knees shook, the revolver droj)ped from his hands, and he 
sank to the floor. After the frightened individual had recovered 
himself sufficiently, Capt. Morgan required him to telegraph some 
messages to Louisville, Awaiting the train for Nashville, he 
captured and destroyed it. burned all the cars to cinders, and 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 649 

with a large addition to his prisoners, induding the luckless tele- 
graph man, made his way safely to the Confederate camp. 

The rising genins of Morgan in the war appears to have 
attracted the attention of Gen. Beauregard strongly ; and it was 
by his earnest recommendation he was promoted Colonel, and 
very shortly thereafter he was nominated by Gen. Bragg Briga- 
dier-General. With this enlarged command, he had an oppor- 
tunity now to fulfil what appears to have been the first, the last, 
the constant desire of his military life — to return to his native, 
bek)ved State, Kentucky, and take revenge upon her invaders. 
When he was compelled to flee from his home, he made a vow, 
should his command ever become numerous enougli, to return to 
pay the debt of vengeance he owed. He was now, in the summer 
of 1862, able in some measure to make good his vow. The 
following appeal, which he made to the people of Kentucky, as 
soon as he entered the State, shows the spirit of tlie man and 
the hopes which animated him : — 

" Kentuckiana, I am once more among you. Confiding in your 
patriotism and strong attachment to our Southern cause, I have, 
at the head of my gallant band, raised once more our Confederate 
flag, so long trampled upon by the Northern tyrants, but never 
yet disgraced. Let every true patriot respond to ray appeal. 
Rise and arm yourselves ! Fight against the despoilers ! Fight 
for your families ! your homes ! for those you love best ! for your 
conscience ! and for the free exercise of your political rights, 
never again to he placed in jeopardy by the Hessian invader. 
Let the stirring scenes of the late Richmond fight be constantly 
before you. Our brave army there and everywhere is victorious. 
McClellan and his foreign hordes are groveling in the dust. 
Our independence is an achieved fact. We have bought it with 
privation and suffering, and sealed the contract with the seal of 
blood. Be not timorous, but rise, one and all, for the good cause, 
to clear our dear Kentucky's soil of the detested invaders. Kcn- 
tuckians ! fellow countrymen ! you know you can rely upon me. 

" John Morgan." 

The expedition was a complete success, a circuit of victories. 
It was the first exploit which gained for Morgan an extensive 
reputation, and made his name familiar to the country. On the 



650 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 

4th of July, he left Tennessee with less than a thousand men, only 
a portion of whom were armed; penetrated 250 miles into a 
country in full possession of the enemy ; captured towns and 
cities ; met, fought, and captured a Federal force superiour to his 
own in numbers ; captured 3,000 stand of arms at Lebanon ; and, 
from first to last, destroyed during his raid, military stores, rail- 
road bridges, and other property'', to the value of eight or ten 
millions of dollars. In his official report to Gen. Kirby Smith, 
Morgan thus summed up the results of the expedition : " I left 
Knoxville on the 4th day of this month (July) with about POO 
men, and returned to Livingston on the 2Sth inst., with nearly 
1,200, having been absent just twenty -four days, during which 
time I travelled over a thousand miles, captured seventeen towns, 
destroyed all the Government supplies and arms in them, dis- 
persed about 1,500 Home-guards, and paroled nearly 1,200 regu- 
lar troops. I lost in killed, wounded, and missing, of the number 
that I carried into Kentucky, about ninety." 

The rapidity and secrecy of these movements, the swiftness 
of Morgan's attacks, and the originality of his schemes, excited the 
alarm of his enemies, as they gained the admiration of his 
friends. We can judge what must have been the state of feeling 
produced by this expedition, when the newspapers of Cincinnati 
described the condition of the population of that city as " border- 
ing on frenzy," and Gen. Boyle commanding the Federal forces 
at Louisville, issued the remarkable order that every person who 
did not bear arms " will remain in his house forty-eight hours, 
and will be shot down if he leaves it." For months after the 
expedition, men, far north, even in Ohio, trembled at the name 
of Morgan, and the tales of his exploits tended to increase his 
success in subsequent raids. 

In this expedition, too, he had mystified the enemy by an 
engine hitherto unused as offensive weapon in war. This weapon 
was a portable electric battery. It M^as only necessary in travers- 
ing the country to take down the telegraph wire, connect it with 
his pocket instrument, and the General might read off and answer 
as suited him the several despatches passing between Louisville 
and Nashville. A young man, Mr. Ellsworth, skilled in the use 
of the telegraph, represented himself as the operator at Louisville ; 
and Gen. Morgan and himself, seated on a heap of stones by the 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 651 

side of tlie railway, received reports, dispatched information, and 
ordered and counter-ordered the movements of the Federal troops 
and stores for many hours. Some of these colloquies were very 
amusing, and introduced no little humour in the usual serious 
business of war. Mr. Ellsworth reports the following incident : — 
' At 7*30, an operator, signing Z., commenced calling B., which 
I had ascertained by the books in the-office was the signal for the 
Lebanon office. I answered the call, when the following conver- 
sation between Z. and myself ensued: — "To Lebanon: What 
news? Any more skirmishing after the last message?— To Z. : 
No. We drove what little cavalry there was away. — To B. : Has 
the train arrived yet? — ^To Z. : Ko ; about how many troops on 
train ? — To B. : Five hundred, 60tli Indiana commanded by Col. 
Owens." My curiosity being excited as to what station Z. was, 
and to ascertain without creating any suspicion, I adopted the 
following plan : " To Z. : A gentleman here in the office bets me 
two cigars you cannot spell the name of your station correctly. — 
To B. : Take the bet. L-e-b-a-n-o-n J-u-n-c-t-i-o-n. Is this not 
right? How do you think I would spell it? — To Z. : He gives it 
up. He thought you would put two b's in Lebanon. — ^To B. : 
Ha-ha-ha ! he is a green one. — To Z. : Yes, that is so. — To Z. : 
What time did the train with soldiers pass ? — To B. : 8*30 last 
night. — To Z. : Yery singular where the train is," &c., &c.' 

On his retreat. Gen. Morgan took possession of all the tele- 
graph offices on his route, and countermanded all the orders 
which Gen. Boyle had sent to intercept him. Before leaving 
Somerset he despatched the following messages, the first to Mr. 
Prentice, at Louisville, the second to Gen. Boyle : 

" Good morning, George D, I am quietly watching the com- 
plete destruction of all of Uncle Sam's property in this little 
burg. I regret exceedingly that this is the last that comes under 
my supervision on this route. I expect in a short time to pay 
you a visit, and wish to know if you will be at home. All well 
in Dixie. 

"John H. Morgan, 
" Commanding Brigaded 

" Good morning, Jerry. This telegraph is a great institution. 



652 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 

You should destroy it, as it keeps you too well posted. My friend 
Ellsworth has all the despatches since the 12th of July on file 
Do you wish copies ? 

"John H. Morgan, 
" Commanding Brigade. 
"To Gex. J. T. BOTLE, Louisville." 

The summer and autumn months of 1862 passed without 
special incident in Gen. Morgan's command, he uniting with Gen. 
Bragg in the Kentucky campaign, and on the subsequent retreat 
harassing the enemy after his own peculiar fashion. In Decem- 
ber happened a pleasant and peaceful episode in the life of the 
gallant cavalry chief. At Murfreesboro, on the 4tli December, 
1862, he was united in marriage to Miss Ready, daughter of the 
Hon. Charles Eeady, and sister of Mrs. Cheatham of Nashville. 
However, he was soon on the war-path again, and but two days 
after his marriage, he was gathering fresh laurels on the battle- 
field. 

"While his cavalry brigade covered Bragg's front in the direc- 
tion of Hartsville, Tennessee, he discovered that the enemy's forces 
at that point were somewhat isolated, and organized an expedition 
to attack them. Under cover of feints, by an extraordinary night 
march on the 6th December, he reached his point of destination. 
The attack was made at break of day. In one hour and a half, 
the troops under Morgan's command, consisting of 500 cavalry, 
700 infantry, with a battery of artillery, in all about 1,300 strong, 
defeated and captured three well disciplined and well formed 
regiments of infantry with a regiment of cavalry, and took two 
rifled cannon, the whole encamped on their own ground, and in 
a ver^' strong position, taking about 1800 prisoners, 1800 stand of 
arras, a quantity of ammunition, clothing, quartermasters' stores, 
and sixteen waggons. The success was all that was desired. 
Morgan wrote to Gen. Bragg : " I must have forgiveness if I add 
with a soldier's pride, that the conduct of my whole command 
deserved my highest gratitude and commendation." 

In the early part of 1863, the history of Morgan's command is 
desultory, and he appears to have had no opportunity for his 
peculiar and daring style of adventure. In February he was at 
Sparta, Tennessee, and during that month, and March and April, 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 663 

had frequent engagements with parties of the enemy sent against 
him. In June, however, he planned another expedition into 
the enemy's lines, the boldest and most important he had yet 
undertaken. 

With a command consisting of detachments from two brigades, 
numbering 2028 effective men, and four pieces of artillery, he 
left Tennessee, crossing the Cumberland river on the 2d July. 
The crossing was effected near Burkesville in canoes and dug- 
outs hastily prepared. Driving back a force of Federal cavalry, 
Morgan marched on Columbia, defeated "Wolford's Kentucky 
command, and then dashed on to Green river bridge, where he 
found the enemy protected by well-constructed stockades, and 
too strongly posted to be attacked with advantage. Turning in 
the direction of Lebanon, he had a hard fight of five hours here, 
captured the place, with a vast amount of stores and four hundred 
prisoners, and then proceeded to Bardstown, where he captured 
some cavalry. On the Tth July, Bragdensburg was reached ; 
two fine steamboats captured ; the Federal gunboats, and three 
hundred Home-guards fought, and then the bold raiders crossed 
the Ohio river to the Indiana shore, next day. The following 
day they arrived at Corydon ; engaged over four thousand State 
militia ; dispersed them ; moved on, without halting, through 
Salisbury and Palmyra to Salem ; and it was here that Morgan 
first learned from the telegraph wires of the extent of the alarm 
his invasion had created, and that nearly thirty thousand men 
were afoot to intercept and capture him. The country was too 
hot for him, and it was time to look after his line of retreat. 

He moved rapidly to Lexington, thence to Vernon, and from 
Yernon to Versailles, scattering destruction and dismay along 
the route. The Ohio line was struck at a place called Harrison, 
and here a feint was made upon Cincinnati. Some of his scouts 
advanced to its suburbs, and in the night of the 13th July the 
whole command closely skirted it under cover of the darkness. At 
daylight they were eighteen miles east of the great city, having 
traversed more than fifty miles since the sunset previous. The 
men were terribly jaded, and many fell asleep on their horses. 
But their commander was untiring ; up and down the line he 
rode, laughing with this one, joking with another, and assuming 
a fierce demeanour wherever he saw any disposition to shirk duty. 



054 MAJ.-GEISr. JOHN H. MORGAN. 

Fatigued and worn down, the command at last readied the Ohio 
River at a ford above Pomeroy. But it was only to find an 
enemy in the path ; a large body of troops was there to dispute 
their passage, assisted by the fire of gun-boats in the river. Four- 
teen miles beyond they attempted the passage of the river again, 
the men plunging their horses in the stream and swimming 
across its strong current. Three hundred and thirty men had 
efi'ected a crossing, when again the enemy's gun-boats were upon 
them. A^ain Mors^an and what was left of his command on the 
Ohio side moved up the river. It was a race of life and death, 
a running fight. In the confusion of breaking through the 
enemy's lines, Morgan had by some means got into a carriage. 
A Federal major saw him, and, galloping np, reached for him. 
Morgan jumped out at the other side of the carriage, leaped over 
a fence, seized a horse, and galloped off at full speed. 

The fugitive commander, with the remainder of his scat- 
tered forces, pressed three citizens of Salineville into their 
service as guides, and continued his flight on the New Lisbon 
road. One of the impressed guides made his escape and rode 
back conveying intelligence of tlic route taken, which it was 
believed was with the ultimate design of reaching the Ohio River 
higher up. Forces were immediately dispatched from Wellesvillo 
to head him olf, whilst another force followed hotly in his rear, 
and a strong militia force from New Lisbon came down to 
meet him. 

About two o'clock in the afternoon of the 26tli July, these 
various detachments closed in around Morgan in the vicinity of 
West Point, about midway between New Lisbon and "Welles- 
ville. The Confederates were driven to a blufi'from which there 
was no escape, except by fighting their way through or leaping 
from a lofty and almost perpendicular precipice. Finding them- 
selves thus surrounded, Morgan and the reninant of his command, 
surrendered. 

It was generally thought that in this expedition Gen. Morgan 
ventured too far, in crossing the Ohio, and committed the errour 
of going into a populous country, wdiere the people for self-defence 
would be compelled to concentrate and cut him off". But the 
adventure can scarcely be considered a failure when we put 
against the Confederate loss in prisoners, the immense damage 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 655 

done the enemy. An officer of the expedition thus sums up its 
results : " We paroled, up to the 19th July, near 6,000 Federals ; 
they obligating themselves not to take up arms during the war. 
We destroyed thirty-four important bridges, destroying the track 
in sixty places. Our loss was by no means slight ; twenty-eight 
commissioned officers killed, thirty-five wounded, and 250 men 
killed, wounded, and captured. By the Federal accounts, we 
killed more than 200, wounded at least 350, and captured, as 
before stated, near 6,000. The damage to i-ailroads, steamboats, 
and bridges, added to the destruction of public stores and depots, 
cannot fall far short of $10,000,000." 

This large sum of destruction was done in legitimate warfare ; 
and although the North congratulated itself on whatever similar 
results it had achieved in the South, yet it could not appreciate 
even the plea of retaliation in Morgan's case, and had no other 
name for his exploits than those of robbery and murder. In 
their rage, they refused to regard Gen. Morgan as a prisoner of 
war, and sent him and twenty-eight of his officers to the Ohio 
Penitentiary. Here they were subjected to every possible indig- 
nity. First they were stripped naked, and washed by negroes ; 
then their hair was cut off close to the scalp ; and attired in the 
garb of felons, they were then immured in stone cells, where 
they were closely guarded day and night. The cruelties which 
followed exceeded those even of the prison discipline of obdurate 
and contumacious felons ; they were disgraceful to the age ; and 
yet there was a public sentiment in the North that not only tole- 
rated, but applauded the atrocious inhumanity. 

On the 27th November, Morgan and six of his officers escaped 
from the confinement and torture of their infamous prison. The 
work by which they accomplished their escape was almost super- 
human ; for twenty-two days they were secretly occupied in cut- 
ting through a granite wall six feet thick, with no other instru- 
ment than case-knives, and then they had to tunnel some distance 
through the ground before they emerged to the surface. Hap- 
pily it was a dark and rainy night, when these brave men slipped 
down into the narrow air-chamber and emerged from the earth ; the 
dogs they mostly feared had retired to their kennels, and the senti- 
nels had taken refuge under shelter. Scaling the wall the party 
scattered on the other side, and Gen. Morgan, accompanied only by 



656 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 

Captain Hines, made boldly for the down train to Cincinnati. As in 
the early hours of the next morning the train approached Cincin- 
nati, Gen. Morgan had reason to fear that the news of his escape had 
been telegraphed there, and saw the necessity of avoiding the 
city. He said to Captain Hines: "It's after six o'clock; if we 
go to the depot we are dead men. Now or never." They went 
to the rear and put on the brakes. "Jump, Hines!" Off he 
went, and fell heels over head in the mud. Another severe turn 
of the brake, and the General jumped. He was more successful, 
and alighted on his feet. There were some soldiers near, who 
remarked, "What do you mean by jumping off the cars here?" 
The General replied : " What is the use of my going into town 
when I live here ; and, besides, what business is it of yours?" 

They went immediately to the river. They found a skiff, but 
no oars. Soon a little boy came over, and appeared to be wait- 
ing. " What are you waiting for ?" said the General. " I am 
waiting for my load." " What is the price of a load ? " " Two dol- 
lars." " Well, as we are tired and hungry, we will give you the 
two dollars, and you can put us over." In a few moments he 
was standing on the soil of Kentucky. 

Here, however, his path was beset by dangers, and he moved 
every mile at the peril of detection and death. Sometimes dis- 
guising himself as a government cattle-contractor and again assum- 
ing the character of a quartermaster, he got to the Tennessee 
River. But here he found all means of transportation destroyed, 
and the bank strongly guarded ; however, with the assistance of 
about thirty men, who had recognized him and joined him in 
spite of his remonstrances, he succeeded in making a raft, and he 
and Captain Hines crossed over. His escort, with heroic self- 
sacrifice, refused to cross until he was safely over. He then hired 
a negro to get his horse over, paying him twenty dollars for it. 
The river was so high that the horse came near being drowned, 
and after more than one hour's struggle with the stream was 
pulled out so exhausted as scarcely to be able to stand. 

The General threw a blanket on him and commenced to walk 
him, when suddenly, he says, he was seized with a presentiment 
that he would be attacked, and remarking to Capt. Hines, " We 
will be attacked in twenty minutes," commenced saddling his 
horse. He had hardly tied his girth, when there was a report of 



MAJ. GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 657 

musketry. He leaped on liis horse, and the noble animal, appear- 
ing to be inspired with new vigour, bounded ofi' like a deer up 
the mountain. The last he saw of his poor fellows on the oppo- 
site side, they were disappearing up the river bank, fired upon by 
a whole regiment of Federals. By this time it was dark and 
.ilso raining. He knew that a perfect cordon of pickets would 
surround the foot of the mountain, and if he remained there until 
morning he would be lost. So he determined to run the gauntlet 
at once, and commenced to descend. As he neared the foot, leading 
his horse, he came almost in personal contact with a picket. His 
first impulse was to kill him, but finding him asleep, he deter- 
mined to let him sleep on. 

From this time forward he had a series of adventures and 
escapes, all very wonderful, until he got near another river in 
Tennessee, when he resolved to go up to a house and find the 
way. Hines went to the house, while the General stood in the 
road. Hearing a body of cavalry come dashing up behind him, 
the latter quietly slipped to one side of the road, and it passed 
by without observing him. Hines was not so fortunate; he was 
discovered, pursued, and taken — although he afterwards escaped 
from his captors. The hunt being drawn ofi". Gen. Morgan 
crossed the river at leisure ; but when he got down to Middle 
Tennessee, he found it almost impossible to avoid recognition. 
At one time he passed some poor women, and one of them com- 
menced clapping her hands and said, " Oh ! I know who that is, 
I know who that is !" but, catching herself, she stopped short, 
and passed on with her companions. A few days' further travel 
brought the General safe within the Confederate lines, after hav- 
ing accomplished one of the most wonderful escapes on record. 

No parties outside the prison had assisted in his escape from 
it ; and an announcement thereafter, in the newspapers, that he 
had been seen in Toronto, Canada, was a fortuitous coincidence, 
and greatly aided him in giving a false scent to the detectives. 
His appearance in Richmond astounded the North, and put to 
shame all the efibrts at Washington to scour the borders of Can- 
ada for his recapture. His countrymen hailed his delivery with 
an enthusiasm that testified their appreciation of his services, 
and their afi'ection for the man. An ovation awaited him in 
Eichmond ; the freedom and the hospitality of the city were 

42 



658 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 

voted liim ; and his receptions at tlie Ballard House were more 
numerously attended than those of President Davis himself. On 
one of these public occasions, Judge Moore of Kentucky spoke 
of the worth of Gen. Morgan, and the great credit with which 
he had served his country. He was now receiving the grateful 
testimony of Yirginia, " the mother of States." With eloquent 
sincerity, the speaker promised that Morgan and other Kentuck- 
ians, who were battling for the liberties of the South, would not 
sheathe their swords until her liberty was achieved. Despite the 
thraldom in which Kentucky was held, the muster-rolls of the 
Confederate army showed that 49,000 of her sons had joined their 
fortunes with the South, and this, despite the fact that the heel of 
the tyrant was on her neck. 

The pledge given for Gen, Morgan was soon redeemed ; and 
in the outset of the campaign of 1864 we find him holding an 
important position in South-western Virginia, at a distant but 
critical point in Grant's extensive combination against Richmond. 
His force was small for the emergencies it had to meet ; it con- 
sisted of two Kentucky cavalry brigades and the militia or 
"reserves" of that region, a total of about 2,200 men. Some 
sharp interviews had taken place in Richmond between the 
authorities and Gen. Morgan's friends. President Davis was, 
indeed, averse to the restoration of the General, since the experi- 
ment of the Ohio " raid," to any important post, and, at last, was 
sparing and exacting in assigning him a force and preparing it 
for the field. But in this embarrassment the popularity of Mor- 
gan served him. Contributions were made in all parts of the 
Confederacy to equip his new command, and took the shape of 
patriotic donations. Among the contributors was Gov. Joseph 
E. Brown, of Georgia, who gave five hundred dollars. We men- 
tion the slight circumstance in view of the political consequents 
of this man, and as an instance of that demagoguism which, 
rampant, at one time, for all sorts of deadly and destructive 
enterprises against the enemy, has since professed an unwilling 
participation in the war. 

At the time when Gen. Morgan assumed command of the 
department of South-western Yirginia (which also included a 
portion of East Tennessee), the enemy was moving in two strong 
cavalry columns, under Crook and Averill, threatening to cap- 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 659 

tnre the salt-works and coal-mines near Wytheville, and to carry 
oat the general design of cutting off communication with Rich- 
mond, preventing the transmission of supplies from all the region 
westward to Gen. Lee's army. Making a forced march from 
Saltville, Gen. Morgan arrived at "Wytheville with his mounted 
men in time to save that town from Averill, and to completely 
defeat that boasted cavalry officer, with a considerable loss of 
killed, wounded, prisoners, and horses. Having accomplished 
this much, he determined to take the offensive and make an irrup- 
tion into Kentucky. He was anxious to retrieve the losses of 
the Ohio raid ; he saw clearly that if he remained on the defen- 
sive he would be unable to resist the forces of the enemy if they 
united and bore down on his department ; and he hoped to defeat 
the plan of such a junction by falling upon the enemy's rear in 
Kentucky,diverting his designs and confounding him by a surprise. 
In the first days of June, 1864, Gen. Morgan was again within 
the boundaries of Kentucky, and directing his movements towards 
Mount Sterling, the general Federal depot of supplies, and most 
important post in that portion of the State. On the 8th June 
the post was taken, with some 300 or 400 prisoners ; and Gen. 
Morgan, believing that no enemy was near, and having been 
informed by his scouts that Gen. Eurbridge was moving towards 
Virginia, left but a portion of the force at Mount Sterling, and 
marched immediately for Lexington with the second brigade. It 
was a fatal movement, undertaken on false information, that thus 
divided his command, and exposed him to the enemy. Gen. 
Eurbridge, making a wonderfully swift march, reached Mount 
Sterling before daybreak on the 9th June, surprised the Confed- 
erate force there, and then moved rapidly after Morgan, who had 
passed through Lexington and Cynthiana, captured the garrisons 
and destroyed considerable stores. On the 12th June Morgan 
found himself forced to battle, near the Kentucky Central rail- 
road, against 5,000 of the enemy. His command had been 
reduced to about 1,200 men, and was nearly out of ammunition. 
The fight was soon decided ; many of Morgan's men became 
unmanageable, and dashed across the Licking River ; they were 
re-formed on tlie other side, and charged a body of cavalry which 
then confronted them, and made good their retreat, although 
scattered and in confusion. 



6G0 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 

Forced back to South-western Yirgiiiia, Gen. Morgan found 
his fame on the decline, and the force at his disposal limited to a 
mncli smaller scale of operations. They were dark and despond- 
ing days in a life that, perhaps, was too much accustomed to 
popular applause, and took too much of its inspiration from it. 
One of his officers writes of him at this time: "He was greatly 
changed. His face wore a weary, care-worn expression, and his 
manner was totally destitute of its former ardour and enthusiasm. 
He spoke bitterly, but with no impatience, of the clamour against 
him, and seemed saddest about the condition of his command." 
He was especially hurt by a vile report that had found conve- 
nient and malicious ears in official circles at Richmond, to the 
effect that he had connived at or shared in the robbery of a bank 
at Mount Sterling; and to Secretary Seddon, of the "War Depart- 
ment, he wrote : " Until very recently, I was ignorant how the 
rumours which had already poisoned the public mind, had been 
received and listened to in official circles, and I cannot forbear 
indignant complaint of the injury done my reputation and use- 
fulness b}'' the encouragement thus given them." 

Opportunity was never obtained for the vindication ; and the 
sense of justice did not return to the public mind until the once 
idolized commander was laid low in death, and men reflected 
that the hasty and passionate wrongs done his reputation, might 
have driven him to a desperate enterprise, and an untimely end. 
A few weeks after his return to South-western Virginia, Gen. 
Morgan determined to attempt the enemy in East Tennessee, and 
suddenly conceived the intention of attacking him at Bull's Gap, 
this place lying on the line of railroad from Knoxville. He 
reached Greenville on the 3d September, and made his head- 
quarters for the night at the house of Mrs. Williams. A daughter- 
in-law of this woman was said to be bitterly opposed to the Con- 
federate cause, and to have an especial dislike for Gen. Morgan, 
because, on another occasion, he had revoked the parole of a 
Federal officer, on suspicion of his treasonable communications 
with her. Before the General approached the house, she 
mounted a horse and rode several hours in the night to Bull's 
Gap, to give the alarm to the enemy. 

The day was breaking, when a body of about 100 Federal 
cavalry dashed into Greenville, and surrounded the house where 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 661 

Gen. Morgan had slept, accompanied only by three or four of his 
staff officers — his troops being camped on the skirt of the to^yn. 
Aroused by Major Gassett, the General left the house; but find- 
ing every street guarded he went back to the house, and for 
some moments remained concealed in the cellar. Here the two 
were discov^ered again by the art and persistence of a woman. 
Major Gassett ran to tlie upper part of the house, and by some 
means, managed to effect his escape. Gen. Morgan made his 
way to the garden and attempted to conceal himself behind some 
vines. A few minutes later, and he was shot through the heart, 
with no witness to the homicide, but the man who did it. The 
enemy's story was that he was shot while offering resistance. 
The account on the Confederate side is that he was brutally and 
infamously murdered— shot after he had surrendered; and such 
is the belief induced by the facts, that he was wholly unarmed, 
and that his corpse, while it was yet warm, was thrown across a 
mule, while Federal soldiers were permitted to follow its exhi- 
bition and parade about the town, shouting and screaming in 
savage exultation, "Here's your horse thief." AYhen his body 
was at last taken from the hands which defiled it, it was so covered 
with mud as to be scarcely recognized, and it was found in a 
road one mile from the place where the fatal shot had been fired. 
Gen. Gillem, who commanded the enemy's force, but was not up 
with the party that first entered the town, humanely recovered 
the body and sent it to the Confederate lines under flag of truce. 
It was buried first at Abingdon, and thence removed to the 
cemetery at Richmond, where repose so many heroic ashes of 
the war. 

The military reputation of Gen. Morgan has been erected since 
his death. However the malice of enemies may have assailed 
his good name, or at some time the impatience of his country- 
men have detracted from it, the curiosity which comes after the 
death of distinguished men, has not been able to testify to a 
single disgrace, and reflection pronounces his career one of the 
most extraordinary of recent military times. It was, indeed, a 
rapid career ; one crowded with incidents, and appealing strongly 
to the passions ; and through its shifting scenes of romance and 
adventure ran the mark of a strong will, an original mind, and 
peculiar military talents. He originated new uses for cavalry ; 



C)62 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN H. MORGAN. 

he was the proper author in the war of the far-reaching "raid," 
RO different from the mere cavalry dash ; and, in cutting loose 
from the traditions of former wars and the systems of schools, he 
founded a strategy as effective as it was novel. The record 
of his activity is comprised in the extraordinary declaration, 
sustained by official testimony : that, with a force which at no 
time reached 4,000, he killed arid wounded nearly as many of 
the enemy, and captured more than 15,000 ! 




^gZu.^^ 



IIEUT.-GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. 



CHAPTER LX. 

Peculiar glory of the soldier-State of Texas. — Early recollections in the war 
of "Hood and his Texans." — Hood's cavalry command on the Peninsula. — 
Commands the Texas Brigade. — The peculiar losses of Gaines* Mills. — Gen. 
Hood in the battle of Sharpsburg. — " The two Little Giant Brigades." — Gen. 
Lee's opinion of Texas soldiers " in tight places." — Gen. Hood wounded at Get- 
tysburg and at Chickamauga. — Commands a corps in Johnston's army. — Remark- 
able letter to the War Department. — Appointed Commanding General of the 
Army of Tennessee. — An ascent in rank, but a fall in reputation. — A list 
of errours in the Georgia-Tennessee campaign. — Failure of that campaign. — 
Magnanimous confession of Gen. Hood. — His chivalry. — His admirable military 
figure. 

Any history of the war of the Southern Confederacy is imper- 
fect that fails to notice the large and peculiar measure of glory 
obtained in it by the soldier-State of Texas. The history of this 
distant State had, indeed, been a noble school of character ; here 
had been planted a choice seed of manhood ; and a population had 
grown up remarkable in this : that even in its rudest and wildest 
types was the exquisite mixture of honour and chivalry. This 
peculiarity was well illustrated in the war. "Wherever the rough 
sons of Texas fought there was blood and glory, the terrible spasm 
of battle, the desperate achievement ; and yet no soldiers of the 
Confederacy were more generous to the enemy, more magnanimous 
to prisoners, and more fully alive to all the sentimental appeals of 
the cause for which they fought. They were the men in the Army 
of Northern Virginia upon whom Gen. Lee most relied for all 
desperate enterprises, and whom he once designated by the strong- 
est compliment he was capable of bestowing. Fighting with a 
fierce, apparently untamed courage, capable of sublimest self-devo- 
tion, the soldiers of Texas yet carried through the war a reputation 



664 LIEUT.-GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. 

for generosity, and in their tattered uniforms yet bore the true 
ornaments of manhood, the rough diamonds of cliivalry. Their 
deeds alone, taken apart from the general story of the war, would 
fill a volume and be a complete testimony of the best manhood of 
the living age. 

But the subject of our sketch is a single individual — one, how- 
ever, well illustrating the character and temper of Texas in the 
war. No Confederate leader was more unfortunate than Gen. 
Hood ; and whatever we have to say of him we may well preface 
by declaring the common maxim, that mankind is more inclined to 
censure than to praise, and more apt to remember a disaster than 
a success. The public has a distinct and painful memory of Gen. 
Hood's unfortunate campaign in Georgia and Tennessee ; but this 
is no good reason that it should forget his earlier glorious services 
and overlook brilliant pages of the history of the war on which his 
name shone; nor is it sound argument that because he failed in 
the command of a large army and had not the combination of qual- 
ities necessary for a great General, he cannot be admired in other 
capacities, and for virtues other than those of strategic skill. It is 
mainly to correct this injustice, to rescue the margin of fame that 
is rightly his, and to revive some recollection of those brilliant 
deeds in which " Hood and his Texans " deserve to be immortal- 
ized, despite any sequel of misfortune, that we design this sketch. 

Although properly accounted a citizen of Texas, John B. Hood 
was born in Owensville, Bath county, Kentucky, 1831. His early 
education was obtained at Mt. Sterling. He entered upon his col- 
legiate course at West Point in 1849, and graduated in 1853. He 
was then assigned to duty in the Fourth Infantry in California, 
where he served twenty-two months. When the two new regi- 
ments, raised by Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, were 
called out, he was transferred, July, 1855, to the one (2d cav- 
alry), of which Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, who fell at Shiloh, 
was in command, and Gen. E. E. Lee the Lieutenant-Colonel. This 
regiment furnished many valuable otKcers to the Southern Con- 
federacy. Earl Van Dorn, E. Kirby Smith, Fields, Evans and 
Hardee were from its ranks. 

In the winter of 1855-6, Hood entered upon the frontier ser- 
vice of Western Texas, where, in July following, he had a spirited 
engagement, and was wounded by the Indians on Devil's Eiver. 



LIEUT.-GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. 665 

A short time before the beginning of hostiUties between the 
North and South, he was ordered to report for duty at West Point, 
as Instructor of Cavalry. But anticipating the dissolution of the 
Union, he was allowed, at his own request, to return to duty in 
Texas — his object being, in prospect of war, to be in that portion 
of the country which he most loved and honoured. He could see 
no hope of reconciliation or adjustment between the aroused sec- 
tions of North and South, but every indication of a fierce and 
bloody war, and he had determined to cast his destiny with the 
South. On the 16th April, 1861, he resigned his commission 
in the United States army, and tendered his services to the South- 
ern Confederacy. His name was entered upon the roll with the 
rank of first lieutenant, and he was ordered to report to Gen. Lee 
in Virginia, who ordered him to report to Gen. Magruder, on the 
Peninsula. 

He was immediately assigned to the command of all the cavalry 
on the Peninsula, and given the temporary rank of Major, until the 
appointment could be confirmed from Eichmond. He at once 
made his mark in this service, attracting the attention of his superi- 
ours, and commencing a reputation, which grew rapidly to higher 
rank and honour. The inexperienced and unorganized cavalry 
was soon converted into an active and disciplined force ; the maraud- 
ing parties of the enemy were beaten and driven in at all points, 
and it was said that the shivering garrison at Newport News could 
not cut a stick of firewood, without the risk of ambuscade and 
death. 

In September, 1861, Hood was ordered to Richmond, and receiv- 
ing the rank of Colonel of Infantry, was placed in command of the 
4th Texas regiment, then in camp near the city. In the following 
month the 4th and 5th Texas regiments left Richmond, and were 
moved to Dumfries on the Potomac, where, with the 1st Texas, 
they were to be organized into a brigade under Col. Louis S. Wigfall, 
who had just been promoted to the rank of Rrigadier-General. But 
as Wigfall was the Senator elect from the State of Texas, he 
resigned his commission in the array, on the meeting of Congress. 
On the 3d March, 1862, Col. Hood was appointed to take his place 
and have command of the Texas Brigade. 

He soon obtained the good^will of his rough and hardy recruits, 
and the Texans claimed in their youthful leader a proprietary inter- 



666 LIEUT.-GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. 

est which was asserted to the close of the war. His commanding 
appearance, manly deportment, quick perception, courteous manner 
and decision of character readily impressed the officers and men. 
His thorough acquaintance with every department of the service, 
satisfied every one with his competency for the position. The men 
found not a strait-laced officer of the schools, but one able and 
ready to give them all necessary instruction, not only in drilling 
them for the field, but also in the forms and technicalities of the 
clothing, commissary, ordnance and transportation departments — 
for lack of which information, regiments just entered the service 
frequently went hungry, and commissaries and quartermasters 
made many fruitless trips. 

The Texas Brigade accompanied Johnston to the Peninsula. 
With his new and enlarged command, and on a more important 
field of enterprise. Hood's higher qualities were rapidly developed. 
His untiring watchfulness and ardent zeal, were subjects of constant 
praise. It was his good fortune on the 7th May, 1862, to prevent 
the landing of Gen. Franklin's forces near West Point, on the York 
River, and thus defeat McClellan's attempt to cut off Johnston's 
retreat from Yorktown. 

But in the battles around Eichmond, the grandest opportunity 
the war had yet offered, was to be given on its most important and 
difficult field, for the display of the desperate valour of the soldiers 
of Texas led by Hood. It occurred at Gaines' Alills. Repeatedly 
in this volume of biographies have we dated at this field the rise of 
the reputations of some of the most distinguished Southern com- 
manders. It was fruitful of glory ; it introduced many new names 
to fame. But "Hood and his Texans," were the peculiar heroes 
of the memorable occasion, and the phrase which designated this 
body of troops became from that day a familiar one in the popular 
vocabulary of the war. It was Hood's brigade which made the 
decisive charge upon the enemy's works near AIcGee's house, and 
in the light of the declining sun of the 27th June, engaged in a 
conflict of unspeakable desperation and bitterness, achieved a mira- 
cle of valour, and planted its colours on two tiers of the enemy's 
works. 

In making the charge, Hood's Texans had to pass down a pre- 
cipitous ravine, leap a ditch and stream, and then press forward 
over the enemy's abattis. Hood himself, on foot, led the charge, 



LIEUT.-GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. 667 

and placing himself at the head of the glorious 4th Texas,* he 
gave the command in his clear ringing voice, " Forward, quick 
march." Volleys of musketry, and showers of grape, canister, and 
shell ploughed through the men, but were only answered by the 
stern "Close up — close up to the colours," and onward they rushed 
over the dead and dying, without a pause, until within about one 
hundred yards of the breastworks. It was at this point that pre- 
ceding brigades had halted, and beyond whicb none had yet gone, 
in consequence of the terrible concentrated fire of the concealed 
enemy. At this critical juncture the voice of Gen. Hood was 
heard above the din of battle, " Forward, forward, charge right 
down on them, and drive them out with the bayonet." Fixing 
bayonets as they moved, the desperate troops made one grand rush 
for the fort; down the hill, across the creek and fallen timber, 
pressed on the glittering line of pointed steel, and the next moment 
the battle-flag of the 4th Texas was planted upon the captured 
breastworks. Half of this heroic regiment was killed and wounded ; 
the brigade lost 1000 men, but it took fourteen pieces of cannon, 
and nearly a regiment of prisoners. When next day Stonewall 
Jackson surveyed the ditch and abattis over which they charged, 
he said : " The men who carried this position were soldiers indeed." 
No prouder inscription could testify to the glory of Texas on this 
field, and no other exclamation of glory better mark here the monu- 
ment of her dead. 

In the subsequent campaign of 1862, Hood continued to do 
service, commanding a division composed of two brigades : 4th 

*Gen. D. H. Hill, iu some recollectinns of this field, wTites: "We heard the next 
day that, on some previous occasion. Hood had quieted his old regiment (which had 
felt aggrieved by another being selected for a certain duty), by the promise to lead it 
in person in the next fight. When the regiment found itself in front of earth-works 
and battery of artillery rising above battery, the men called out to their General to 
remember his promise. Placing himself in their front, he carried them through as 
awful a storm of projectiles, as ever beat upon the heads of devoted troops." 

The same writer relates the following incident: "Hood's scouts were known to 
be the most daring as well as the most trustworthy, in the army. Wc happened to 
be present on the morning of the battle of Malvern Hill, when he directed one of his 
scouts to go through a ravine and bring in a prisoner. The man replied, ' General, 
if it is more important to get one from the top of the hill, I think that I can manage it' 
Twas not very clear how a prisoner was to be brought off, in the face of all that 
army of infantry and artillery. The General laughed, and said that a man from thQ 
outpost would answer." 



668 LIEUT.-GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. 

Alabama, 2d and 11th Mississippi, and 6th North Carolina, Col. 
Law commanding, and his old brigade, 1st, 4th and 5th Texas, 
18th Georgia, and the Hampton Legion. In the second battle of 
Manassas, the Texas brigade became engaged with a heavy force 
of the enemy, and captured a battery of four guns crowning the 
heights near the Chinn House. But the most remarkable record of 
Hood's command, after the brilliant story of Gaines' Mills, occurred 
on the soil of Maryland in Gen. Lee's first experiment of invasion. 

Of his part in the battle of Sharpsburg, Gen, Hood writes: 
" On the morning of the 17th September, about three o'clock, the 
firing commenced along the line occupied by Gen. Lawton. At 
six o'clock I received notice from him that he would require all 
the assistance I could give him. A few minutes after, a member 
of his staff reported to me that he was wounded and wished me to 
come forward as soon as possible. Being in readiness, I at once 
marched out on the field, in line of battle, and soon became engaged 
with an immense force of the enemy, consisting of not less than 
two corps of their army. It was here that I witnessed the most 
terrible clash of arms, by far, that has occurred during the war. 
The two little giant brigades* of this division wrestled with this 
mighty force, losing hundreds of their gallant officers and men, but 
driving the enemy from his position and forcing him to abandon 
his guns on our left. The battle raged with the greatest fury until 
about nine o'clock, the enemy being driven from four to five 
hundred yards." 

It was in this great campaign of 1862— this most glorious part 
of the history of the Army of Northern Virginia — that the soldiers 
of Texas obtained, as we remarked in the commencement of this 
sketch, peculiar and transcendent titles to fame. One of those 
titles is recited in the words of Stonewall Jackson. Another is 
recited in the words of Gen. Lee. No better evidence could be 
given than the following letter of the Commander-in-chief of the 
confidence he placed in Gen. Hood and the gallant soldiers com- 
posing his command, and of the peculiar value of the soldiers of 
Texas. The brief letter deserves a place in the records of that State. 



* One of these brigades numbered only 846 men. The 4lh Texas lost its flag, 
but not until (in the words of Gen, Jlopd) "it was buried under a pile of its 
defenders," 



LIEUT.- GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. 6C9 

" Headquarters Army op Virginia, 

"Near Maktinsbdrg, September 21, 1862. 
Oen. Louis T. Wigfall: 

** General — I have not yet heard from you with regard to the 
new Texas regiments which you promised to endeavour to raise 
for the army. I need them much. I rely upon those we have in 
all tight places, and fear I have to call upon them too often. They 
have fought grandly and nobly, and we must have more of them. 
Please make every possible exertion to get them in, and send them 
on to me. You must help us in this matter. With a few more such 
regiments as Hood now has, as an example of daring and bravery, 
I could feel much more confident of the campaign. 

" Very respectfully yours, 

"RE. Lee, OeneraV 

In the battle of Gettysburg, Gen. Hood was severely wounded 
in the arm, and never recovered perfect use of it. He was able, 
however, to accompany Longstreet in August, 1863, to the West- 
ern theatre of the war, to reinforce Bragg, then preparing for the 
battle of Chickamauga. In this brilliant action Gen. Hood was 
hotly engaged, fighting on the left, and he sustained a wound so 
severe as to make necessary amputation of his leg near the hip. 
He was highly complimented by his corps commander. Gen. Long- 
street, who wrote an urgent letter to the War Department recom- 
mending his promotion to the rank of Lieutenant-General, to date 
from the field of Chickamauga. 

The promotion was made; but it was six months before Gen. 
Hood, suffering from a shattered constitution and a sadly mutilated 
body, could again take the field. In March, 1864, he proceeded 
to take command of his corps in North Georgia, under Gen. John- 
ston. He appears to have had at this time a very clear view of 
the situation, and he wrote a remarkable letter to the War Depart- 
ment, urging the junction of Polk's and Loring's troops, making 
the Confederate force some 60,000, and then uniting with Long- 
street's army (in East Tennessee) perhaps 30,000 more, and get- 
ting in rear of the enemy, so as to drive him out of Tennessee and 
Kentuck}''. This conclusion he maintained as certain ; the enemy 
had then only about 50,000 troops on the Georgia-Tennessee fron- 
tier; and the danger was that if time was allowed him, he would 



670 LIEUT.-GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. 

accumulate overwhelming numbers and penetrate further into the 
country. 

The Government at Eichmond declined these views, and 
accepted the danger which the alternative threatened. The con- 
sequence was the retreat of Gen. Johnston to Atlanta. Dissatisfied 
with the result itself had procured, the Government resolved on a 
change of commanders, and affected that its choice was of a 
"fighting man" to command the Army of Tennessee. On the 
18th July, Gen. Johnston having been relieved. Hood was appointed 
in his place, and assumed command in the following address : 

" Headquartees Army of Tennessee, July 18, 18G4. 
" Soldiers — In obedience to orders from the "War Department, 
I assume command of this army and department. I feel the weight 
of the responsibility so suddenly and unexpectedly devolved upon 
me by this position, and shall bend all my energies and employ all 
my skill to meet its requirements. I look with confidence to your 
patriotism to stand by me, and rely upon your prowess to wrest 
your country from the grasp of the invader, entitling yourselves 
to the proud distinction of being called the deliverers of an 
oppressed people." 

It was an ascent in rank, but a fall in reputation. It was an 
evil star, and malignant influences that brought this promotion to 
Gen. Hood, and transferred him from a department, in which his 
brilliant execution and brave and chivalrous part had won and 
deserved fame, to a higher range of service for which he was unfit. 
A great General, one who plans campaigns and conducts entire 
armies, is a comhinaiion of many qualities. That Gen. Hood did 
not have the multitude of virtues necessary for the highest success 
in military life we may truly say, and yet persist in the opinion 
that he had much in which he might assert a brilliant reputation. 
His campaign, commencing at Atlanta, and ending on the banks of 
the Tennessee Eiver, was full of errours. In saying this the writer 
is well aware that he encounters an absurd vulgar prejudice, which 
denies the right of one unskilled in arms to criticize military 
operations. This prejudice has some foundation in truth — and in 
this volume the writer has shown a certain regard for it; but 
admitted to its fullest extent, it is the most insolent nonsense, for 



LIEUT.-GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. ()71 

it would require the historian, who writes on the general affairs of 
mankind, to be an expert in every one of these affairs; to be a Gene- 
ral, to treat of military events ; to be a statesman, to discuss political 
topics; to be an artist, to deal with the subjects of letters and man- 
ners. But in all these things there is a common-sense superiour to 
the technicalities of schools ; and the comment of history and the 
verdict of posterit}'', are nothing more than its declarations. It is 
within the limits of general intelligence that men have a right to criti- 
cise even those affairs in which they are neither experts nor partners. 

With reference to the disastrous period we have referred to in 
the life of Gen. Hood, there are errours which must stand confessed 
in history, despite all technical controversies of military schools. 
The fact to be admitted at once is, that although a brilliant lieuten- 
ant, he was not a competent chief. He committed an errour in 
fighting at Atlanta, and consuming lives in an army whose num- 
bers afforded no margin for fanciful attacks and experiments, when, 
if he had maintained the situation which Johnston had left, with 
Sherman unable to invest Atlanta on the one hand, or to retreat on 
the other, he would have held the Federal army suspended for 
destruction. He committed an errour in sending off his entire 
cavalry towards Chattanooga, to raid on Sherman's communica- 
tions, permitting his antagonist to swing his army entirely around 
Atlanta, to take a new position at leisure and to effect a lodgment on 
the Macon road. He committed an errour, when expelled from Atlan- 
ta, in not maintaining the next best defensive position. He committed 
an errour, in which Gen. Grant has justly criticised him, in "sup- 
posing that an army that had been beaten and fearfully decimated 
in a vain attempt at the defensive, could successfully undertake 
the offensive." He committed an errour in attempting to recover 
Tennessee, when the effort uncovered the whole State of Georgia, 
and left it undefended to the sea. 

But with this list of errours there runs a series of excuses; and 
the Georgia-Tennessee campaign is eminently one that must be 
judged in the light of all its circumstances. Gen. Hood was unfortu- 
nate in not possessing the confidence of his army, and in taking 
command of it M'hen it was malcontent and demoralized in conse- 
quence of the removal of its favourite leader. He found new 
dfficulties, and was embarrassed much more seriously than was 
generally known at the time by the suspicious machinations and 



G72 LIEUT.-GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. 

appeals of the Governor of Georgia. The history of this man, 
Joseph E. Brown, is not yet clearly written, and his changeful 
sentiments and capricious moods more than once in the course of 
the war, excited the curiosity of the public, and challenged the sus- 
picions of a portion of it. Had the records of the Confederate War 
Department not perished in the conflagration of Eichmond, there 
might be produced from them a letter written by this man shortly 
after the fall of Atlanta, not only offensively criticising the manage- 
ment of military affairs, but demanding the return of all the Georgia 
troops in Gen. Lee's army in Virginia. It is sentiments like these 
which corrupt armies and make them an easy prey to their own 
distrust. Gen. Hood found himself in command of soldiers who 
no longer fought as in the early days of the Confederacy. His 
division commanders had no good feeling for him, and he had not 
the faculty of inspiring confidence and obtaining obedience in spite 
of personal disaffection. The great opportunity of his campaign 
in Tennessee was lost, when by disconcert in the execution of his 
plans he failed to cut off the enemy's retreat from Spring Hill. 
" In the stratagem of war, a man fails but once." Then followed 
the unequal battles of Nashville ; the evidence of demoralization in 
troops strangely flying from the field when victory plainly asked 
but one more effort for its purchase ; and the painful retreat in 
which an army, having lost ten thousand of its numbers and nearly 
all of its artillery, terminated its existence, so to speak, as " the 
Army of Tennessee," being only used thereafter in a feeble recon- 
struction of the forces south of Richmond. 

This campaign concluded Gen. Hood's military career. He 
took leave of his army in the following order: 

" Headquarters Army of the Tennessee, ) 
"Tupelo, Miss., Jan, 23, 1865. \ 

"Soldiers — At my request, I have this day been relieved 
from the command of the army. In taking leave of you, accept 
my thanks for the patience with which you have endured your 
hardships during the recent campaign. / am alone responsible for 
its conception, and strove hard to do ray duty in its execution. I urge 
upon you the importance of giving your entire support to the dis- 
tinguished soldier who now assumes command, and shall look with 
deep interest on all your future operations, and rejoice at your 
success. " J. B, Hood." 



LIEUT.-GEN. JOHN B. HOOD. 673 

Whatever may be the military judgment of the events thus con- 
cluded, there is a generosity of soul in this brief address that it is 
impossible to resist. It calls for tender and noble responses. The 
man who could thus accept the responsibilities of failure must have 
had a great spirit, and compels admiration at the last. He illus- 
trated v»rhat is most difficult in human lives — even manners and 
perfect self-possession in misfortune. The most ill-starred Gene- 
ral of the South ; the man perhaps the least esteemed among the 
great military leaders of the Confederacy, jet after all, the bravest 
of the brave, the lion-hearted Texan was thoroughly imbued with 
the spirit of chivalry, when, recounting to a friend his story of dis- 
aster and mortification, he paused and said : " And yet there is 
something very pleasant to ride in the tide of battle, and hear the 
whistle of the bullets ! " 

The fine commanding appearance of Gren. Hood in battle will 
long be recollected, for it impressed all observers. About six feet 
two inches in height, with full broad chest and a long brown beard 
flowing over it, blue eyes piercing though kindly, he was the pic- 
ture of manly vigour ; and even when crippled by his severe 
wounds, he maintained the appearance and port that had at first 
won upon his soldiers, and made him one of the most admirable 
figures in the army. He was remarkable for a powerful melodious 
voice, that rang out words of command as with the blast of a trum- 
pet, and never failed to be heard in the storm of battle. Since the 
war, Gen. Hood has resorted to commercial pursuits in New Orleans. 
Some of his friends, affected by the disability he had sustained in 
the war, recently proposed a subscription for his benefit ; but he 
proudly declined it in a few becoming and touching words, declar- 
ing that despite his maimed body and feeble health, he was yet able 
to win from the world the few things necessary for a livelihood. 

43 



LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 



CHAPTER LXL 

His ancestry in South Carolina. — His service in the United States Army. — Aide to 
Gen. Beauregard at Fort Sumter. — Commands Virginia cavalry. — Assigned to 
Artillery. — Gallant and important action of his batteries at Second Manassas. — 
Anecdote illustrating the spirit of that day. — Gen. Lee in command at Yicksburg. 
— Extraordinary compliment from President Davis. — Gen. Lee repulses Sherman 
at Chickasaw Bayou. — Battle of Baker's Creek. — Wonderful escape of Gen. Lee 
in the retreat. — Siege of Vicksburg. — Action of the 22d June, 18G3. — Heroism of 
Texan soldiers. — Gen. Lee commands the cavalry in Mississippi. — His operations 
against Sherman. — He commands the Southwestern Department. — Raids of the 
enemy. — Assignment of Gen. Lee to Hood's Army. — The Tennessee campaign. — 
Gen. Lee protects the retreat. — : Reflections upon his extraordinary career. 

Stephen D. Lee was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on 
the 22d September, 1833. His family was of the most distinguished 
of the State, and of historical note. During the Revolutionary war, 
when the British took Charleston, they seized forty of the principal 
citizens, and confined them on prison ships at St. Augustine, until 
the close of the war. Among those who thus suffered for their 
country's cause was the great-grandfather of the subject of our 
sketch. His grandfather was United States Judge in South Caro- 
lina ; he was a man of great talents, and he was remarkable for the 
prominent and brave part he took in the " Nullification" difficulties 
on the Union side. A long and interesting account of his life, and 
this phase of it, may be found in CNeil's " Bench and Bar of South 
Carolina." 

In 1850, Stephen D. Lee entered West Point, and graduated 
with J. E. B. Stuart, Curtis, Lee, Pender, Pegrara, Gracie, Yille- 
pigue, and others afterwards distinguished in the war of the Con- 



LIEUT. -GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 675 

federates. Among his class-mates were, also, 0. O. Howard, Weed, 
and others of note in the Federal array. Lee served six years as 
second-lieutenant in the Fourth Artillery, doing duty at various 
times on the frontiers of Texas, Kansas and Nebraska. In 1856, 
he was promoted to a first lieutenancy in the company commanded 
by Captain Pemberton (afterwards Lieut-Gen. Pemberton in the 
Confederate service), and was made regimental quartermaster. In 
1857, he served under Col. Loomis against the Indians in Florida. 

As soon as it was evident what course events, arising from the 
sectional controversy between the North and South, would take, 
Lee resigned from the army — being then at Fort Randal, Nebraska. 
Although he took this step M'ith regret, and although he was never 
sanguine of the success of the Southern movement for indepen- 
dence, he could not hesitate to follow the fortunes of his State. 
He M'as made a Captain in the volunteer forces of South Carolina ; 
and in the formation of the Confederate army, the same rank was 
obtained. Commencing at this low step in the military service of 
the South, long without opportunities of conspicuous service, tlie 
glorious distinction yet awaited him of serving through every grade 
from Captain to Lieutenant-General, accomplishing each ascent of 
rank and fame by the force of individual merit, and- with the dis- 
dain of any other influences to recommend him. 

His first active service in the war was as aide to Gen. Beaure- 
gard, and he participated in the attack on Fort Sumter. He and 
another officer carried the demand for surrender, and being refused, 
gave the orders to the nearest batteries to fire on the fort. He was 
subsequently appointed commissary, then quartermaster, then 
engineer officer in Charleston, in 1861. The duties of these posts 
were distasteful to him, and he accepted the position tendered him 
by the election of the men, of Captain of a light battery in Hamp- 
ton's Legion. In this command he was engaged for several months 
in harassing the Federal gunboats and transports on the Potomac 
River, and in turning the enemy's attention from the construction 
of heavy batteries near Dumfries. In November, 1861, he was 
promoted Major of artillery. He accompanied Johnston's array 
to Yorktown, and back to Richmond in the Peninsular campaign. 
For his services he was promoted Lieut.-Colonel ; was engaged aj; 
Seven Pines in Whiting's divison ; and was afterwards in Mag- 
ruder's division in the " seven days' battles " around Richmond, 



676 LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 

fighting the enemy at Savage Station and Malvern Hill, and com- 
manding six batteries. After Malvern Hill, when the Confederate 
army was drawn back towards Eichmond, Col. Lee was assigned 
to the command of the 4th Virginia cavalry, whose field officers 
were wounded. 

For a number of weeks he was constantly engaged in active 
scouting duty. His regiment had several skirmishes and affairs 
with the enemy near Malvern Hill, and was complimented for its 
activity and gallantry by the Commanding General. When the 
army moved into Northern Virginia, Lee was assigned to a bat- 
talion of artillery, with the rank of Colonel. 

The part his batteries played in the second battle of Manassas 
was decisive, and has claimed a brilliant page in every history of 
the war. They occupied a high and commanding ridge between 
the corps of Longstreet and Jackson, and during the early part of 
the action carried on an artillery duel with the enemy. In the 
evening a heavy attempt was made to crush Jackson, when Lee's 
batteries turned upon the advancing columns of the enemy, and 
engaged in one of the most desperate and furious actions of the 
war. For three quarters of an hour the twenty guns played into 
the ranks of the enemy at a distance not exceeding 800 yards. 
At one time there were Federal troops not more than 100 yards 
from the muzzles of the guns. The slaughter was terrific, and 
after a vain attempt of the enemy to encounter the fire of the bat- 
teries he gave up the field. The affair was so conspicuous as to 
bring Col. Lee into the notice of the whole army, and for the first 
time introduced him to the attention and favour of President Davis, 
who was pleased to say that his services at the critical juncture in 
which he had been engaged, saved the day. 

He had fought here with some interesting incidents. In the 
artillery duel of the morning, Lt. Elliott was handling two Parrott 
guns with great dexterity. Seeing a caisson of the Federals mov- 
ing in the field, he called Col. Lee's attention to it, as he intended 
to strike it. They estimated the distance, and he sighted his gun 
for 3,500 yards. The shot must have almost struck the caisson, 
which took the gallop from a position which had been supposed 
secure from its distance. A second shot killed the two wheel 
horses, and disabled it. It was a most remarkable shot for dis 
tance and precision, and showed the proficiency of a battalion, 



LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 677 

which, besides its laurels on this field, obtained much subsequent 
distinction in the war. 

An anecdote illustrates the spirit of this glorious day in Lee's 
battalion. In the afternoon, as the action became hotter, Capt. 
Parker was serving his guns with admirable steadiness and zeal. 
The Captain was an elderly man, very pious; and many of his 
company were boys placed specially under charge for his good 
example and fatherly car5. As the different reserves of the enemy 
were driven back two or three times in their effort to reach their 
front line, engaged with Jackson, it became evident that they must 
capture the batteries in the way of a successful assault. Animated 
by the necessity of penetrating this fire, the enemy rushed gal- 
lantly on, some of the men getting within 100 yards of Parker's 
guns. They were repulsed in great disorder, and with terrible loss. 
The excitement was intense, and one little fellow of sixteen years 
rushed up to Capt. Parker, and exclaimed, "Captain, God has given 
us the victory ! " " Yes, my son," was the reply, *' but go back to 
your gun. We will thank God aftei^ a wldler''^ 

Col. Lee shared in the Maryland campaign, and was engaged in 
the battle of Sharpsburg, where his command lost heavily — more 
than 100 men and 90 horses out of four batteries. On the return 
of the Army of Northern Virginia to its old lines of defence, his 
connection with it ceased. Although his transfer to another thea- 
tre of operations was accompanied with promotion, he quitted Vir- 
ginia with regret. The general opinion was that there was the 
head and front of the war, and that the officers who remained 
in the army that operated there had the best chance of distinction. 
The Western army was under a cloud ; with fine officers and good 
troops, fortune was against it; and a malignant star had cast upon 

* The artillery which Lee commanded in the second battle of Manassas, and which 
made there its first well-recognized mark of glory, was composed of Rhett's South 
CaroUna Battery, under Lieut. William Elliott, and Parker's, Eubank's and Jordan's 
Virginia Batteries. This, with Moody's Mississippi Battery (afterwards added), con- 
stituted the command of Gen. W. E. Alexander (afterwards Chief of Artillery in 
Longstreet's Corps), when Lee, promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General, was sent 
to the West. It greatly increased its reputation at Fredericksburg, where it relieved 
the Washington ArtDlery, and repulsed the last charge of the enemy at dark at 
Marye's Hill. It was also engaged at Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and in all impor- 
tant actions of the Army of Northern Virgiuiaw Its career after Lee left it, was 
always watched by him with great pride and pleasure, and it was said that he took 
more interest in it than in any other subsequent command. 



678 LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 

it shadows of defeat and disaster which had already made many 
dark days for the Confederacy. 

Lee was made a Brigadier-General, and sent to Vicksburg. 
About this time President Davis visited Mississippi. The South- 
west was jealous of Virginia, and open in expressing it. " Vir- 
ginia," it was said, "got everything, the best troops, all the 
clothing, the best guns ; nobody in Eichmond cared what became 
of the Mississippi Valley." President Davis made a speech at 
Jackson, Mississippi, to allay the rising discontent. Vicksburg, he 
said, was to be defended ; his native State, Mississippi, was dear to 
his heart ; and he had reason to hope that within her borders there 
would be achieved victories decisive of the success of the Southern 
cause. He argued that there were two prominent objects in the 
programme of the enemy. One was to get possession of the Mis- 
sissippi River, and to open it to navigation in order to appease the 
clamours of the West, and to utilize the capture of New Orleans, 
which had thus far rendered them no service. The other was to 
seize upon the capital of the Confederacy, and hold this out as a 
proof that the Confederacy had no existence. '' We have recently 
repulsed them," said the President, "at Fredericksburg, and I 
believe that under God, and by the valour of our troops, the capital 
of the Confederacy will stand safe behind its wall of living breasts. 
* * * * Vicksburg will stand, and Port Hudson 

will stand, but let every man that can be spared from other voca 
tions hasten to defend them, and thus hold the Mississippi River, 
that great artery of the Confederacy, preserve our communications 
with the Trans-Mississippi Department, and thwart the enemy's 
scheme of forcing navigation through to New Orleans, By holding 
that section of the river between Port Hudson and Vicksburg, we 
shall secure these results ; and the people of the West, cut off from 
New Orleans, will be di'iven to the East to seek a market for their 
products, and will be compelled to pay so much in the way of 
freights that those products will be rendered almost valueless. 
Thus, I should not be surprised if the first daybreak of peace were 
to dawn upon us from that quarter." 

In the close of this speech the name of the young Brigadier- 
General, who was to command at Vicksburg, was for the first time 
heard by many of the people of Mississippi. The President said : 
" Some time since, for reasons not necessary to recapitulate, I sent 



LIEUT.-GEN". STEPHEN" D. LEE. 679 

a General unknown to most of you, and, perhaps, even by name 
known but to a few among you. This was the land of my affec- 
tions. Here was situated the little of worldly goods I possessed. I 
selected a General who, in my views, was capable of defending ray 
State and discharging the duties of this important service. I am 
happy to state, after an attentive examination, that I have not been 
mistaken in the General of my choice. I find that, during his 
administration here, everything has been done that could be accom- 
plished with tiie means of his command. I recommend him to 
your confidence as you may have confidence in me, who selected 
him. For the defence of Yicksburg, I selected one from the army 
of the Potomac, of whom it is but faint praise to say he has no 
superiour. He was sent to Virginia at the beginning of the war, 
with a little battery of three guns. With these he fought the Yan- 
kee gunboats, drove them oft', and stripped them of their terrours. 
He was promoted for distinguished services on various fields. He 
was finally made a Colonel of cavalry, and I have reason to believe 
that, at the last great conflict on the field of Manassas, he served to 
turn the tide of battle and consummate the victory. On succeed- 
ing fields he has won equal distinction. Though yet young he has 
fought more battles than many ofiicers who have lived to an 
advanced age and died in their beds. I have therefore sent Gen. 
Stephen D, Lee to take charge of the defences of Vicksburg." 

Such praise, than which none could be higher or more accepta- 
ble to the patriotic soldier, raised public expectation, and stimulated 
all the pride and ambition of Lee to execute the great and difficult 
trusts confided to him. On reporting at Vicksburg, he was assigned 
to a brigade of Louisiana and Mississippi troops, and given immedi- 
ate command of the country from Vicksburg to Snyder's Bluffon the 
Yazoo, including the batteries at the latter place lor blockading the 
river. His force for the field did not exceed three thousand men. 
With such a force he was called upon to meet the advance of Sher- 
man on Vicksburg, in the winter of 1862-3, and to give the first 
lesson to the insolence of that charlatan commander. 

The enemy made his first demonstration by disembarking his 
army at the north of Chickasaw Bayou five miles from Vicksburg 
on the Yazoo Kiver, and at once commenced pushing towards the 
city in the direction of the road leading from Snyder's Bluff. 
Encountering him with his small force. Gen. Lee disputed the 



680 LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 

ground, inch by inch, to the Bluflf, two and a half miles. By hold- 
ing the enemy in check for an entire day, he was enabled to con- 
struct a few rifle pits, to shelter his small command on the long 
line he had to defend, a distance of twelve miles from Vicksburg 
to Snyder's Bluff. The enemy seeing the small force in front of 
him, determined on an assault, and crossing Chickasaw Bayou 
moved gallantly to the attack, Blair's Missouri division and part 
of Morgan L. Smith's in the lead. Curiously enough, a week 
before the action. Gen. Lee had reconnoitred the precise field, and 
had then remarked to one of his officers that "it was the weakest 
point around Vicksburg, and that if the enemy ever came towards 
the city he would try this route." His predictions were exactly 
realized. But the assault of the enemy was repulsed ; four hundred 
of their dead and wounded were left on the field, and four hundred 
prisoners; and so decisive was the repulse, and so blind was 
Sherman to the advantages he had fallen upon, that he desisted 
from further action, embarked on his transports, and left the Yazoo 
to try some other plan or point of attack. The victory was a most 
important one ; it came near extinguishing Sherman's then flicker- 
ing reputation ; audit was achieved by Gen. Lee in the most unequal 
and desperate circumstances. 

When Lieut.-Gen. Pemberton undertook the defence of Yicks- 
burs, to conclude its heroic memories by an ill-starred chapter of 
disaster, Lee's forces were drawn into the city, and, in addition to 
his brigade, he was assigned command of all the heavy batteries. 
In the unfortunate campaign against Grant, when Gen. Pemberton 
entangled himself with his columns, in such a way as to be defeated 
in detail and finally shut up in Vicksburg, Gen. Lee took the field 
with the Alabama brigade in Stevenson's division, and by the gal- 
lant service of his command did much to relieve the general story 
of misfortune. In the battle of Baker's Creek, Lee's brigade was 
on the left, covering the roads to Jackson and Kaymond. The 
battle was a clever surprise on the part of the enemy. He was 
supposed to be eight or ten miles off, when he was actually turning 
the left flank of the Confederates, screened only by a skirt of woods. 
The surprise was ascribed to Pemberton's want of cavalry, but is 
more justly attributed to lack of vigilance of those he did have. 
Gen. Lee was the first to discover the danger of the arm}^ and 
immediately sent word to his superiour officer, Maj.-Gen. Stevenson, 



LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 681 

at the same time endeavoring to check the enemy, and losing 
heavily in the encounter. His troops were compelled to move con- 
stantly to the left while engaged, to prevent the enemy from gain- 
ing the road to Vicksburg in the rear of Pemberton's forces. Thefe 
was hot fighting that day on the part of some of the Confederate 
commands, but to no purpose. Pemberton was defeated, and com- 
menced retreating at 4 o'clock p.ii. The loss was heavy, especi- 
ally in Bowcn's and Lee's brigades — the latter losing more than 
1,000 men, or about one-third of its effective numbers. Gen. Lee 
was highly complimented by his division commander, for his dis- 
play of personal gallantrj^ in the action. Several times during the 
day he rallied different regiments by taking their colours and lead- 
ing them in person. He had three horses shot under him within 
a period of twenty minutes ; several balls passed through his clothes, 
and he was slightly wounded in the shoulder. 

During the retreat he made a yet more wonderful escape. He 
and his Adjutant, Capt. Elliott, were conducting some troops to 
reinforce at a bridge, on a road about a mile from the one by which 
the main army was retreating. Gen. Lee was informed that the 
road was still in possession of the Confederates. Seeing troops in 
advance, the two galloped ahead to reconnoitre. The enemy seeing 
them approach, with a column in their rear, halted in the woods 
and proceeded to ambush them. Two Federals in gray shirts were 
sent out to ride leisurely along a fence, as a decoy, to take the two 
officers before they could give the alarm to the column, now about 
half a mile in the rear. So perfect was the deception that Gen. 
Lee and Capt. Elliott rode up within six paces of the men, and 
within seventy-five yards of the enemy's infantry and artillery. 
Two pistols were presented, and they were called on to surrender. 
They wheeled their horses, the pistols were discharged without 
effect, while the infantry and artillery both opened fire on them. 
Their escape seemed miraculous. After the surrender of Vicks- 
burg, a Federal officer who witnessed the affair, recognized Gen. 
Lee as one of the parties, and told him he could not account for 
his escape from such a fire. 

The sorrowful siege of Vicksburg was not without its incidents 
of glory. A terrible assault was made by the Federals on the 22d 
June, 1863. The fighting was heavy all along the line, the enemy 
carrying part of one of Gen. Lee's redoubts, and planting three 



682 LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 

Stands of colours on it, Lieut.-Col. Pettus was ordered to retake it. 
He made several attempts to get his command to assault, but with- 
out success ; the men were, in a measure, demoralized by the pre- 
vious events of the day. Col. Waul, commanding the Texas 
Legion, was ordered to detail forty men for the assault, and to take 
the Federal colours floating over the narrow breach. An entire 
company of noble Texan volunteers stept out for the work. But 
forty of them were selected, and as they reported themselves ready, 
the bravery and coolness of the men made them a remarkable 
spectacle, even at a time when the excitement of battle was thrill- 
ing along the whole line. Fuses were cut from six-pounder shell 
to use as hand grenades to be thrown over the traverse. Before 
the Federals could imagine such a desperate assault, Pettus and 
his forty Texans were upon them ; the colours were captured, and 
in the onset a hundred prisoners taken. Instantly about thirty 
guns of the enemy were trained on the narrow spot where stood 
the bold adventurers ; they were almost buried in the earth and 
debris which the shot threw up around them, but strange to say, 
though some were wounded, not a man was killed, and the cap- 
tured colours were carried back in triumph. They were presented 
to Col. "VVaul, as due to the bravery of the Texans. It was another 
instance of the heroism of the soldiers of the "Lone Star," another 
instance of that terrible courage which so often tried the balance 
between life and death, was ready for all desperate enterprises, and 
made the name of Texans one of peculiar terrour to the enemy. 

During this assault. Gen. Lee, Col. Waul, and the Adjutant of 
the latter were standing in an exposed position on the line, in full 
view of the assaulting column. The Adjutant was shot through 
the heart. Two days afterwards, the Federals, under a flag of 
truce, reclaimed their dead for burial. One of the party pointed 
out a place on the line, saying that during the assault three Con- 
federate officers had stood there, that he made forty men fire a 
volley at them, and he asked if one had not been killed. 

The surrender of Vicksburg took place when the trenches of 
the enemy were only twenty feet from some parts of the line held 
by Gen. Lee. He was a prisoner but a short time, and being ex- 
changed, he was promoted on the 3d August, 1863, and was a 
Major-General at the age of thirty. He was now assigned to the 
command of all the cavalry in Mississippi, to operate against Grant. 



LIEUT.-GEN". STEPHEN D. LEE. 683 

But the latter did not advance farther than Brandon, being satis- 
fied to hold Vicksburg, and withdrawing his troops to other points. 
Gen. Lee was then directed to operate upon the enemy's communi- 
cations towards Chattanooga, and to assist the enterprise of 
Wheeler, who had just returned from his famous raid through 
Middle and West Tennessee. When Sherman moved from Mem- 
phis to reinforce Grant at Chattanooga, rebuilding the road from 
Florence to Tuscumbia, Gen, Lee, although he had but two small 
brigades, threw them in front of his old enemy, and disputed his 
progress obstinately from Bear Creek. He succeeded in destroy- 
ing the railroad to Tuscumbia so thoroughly, that Sherman gave 
up the route, retraced his steps to Eastport, and then crossed the 
Tennessee Eiver, marching on the north side to meet Grant. The 
delay thus effected was important, and Gen. Lee was complimented 
by Bragg for the vigour and efficacy of his operation. 

Eeturning to Mississippi, he was engaged in the difficult task 
of gathering and organizing the scattered cavalry. There were but 
two effective brigades in the State at that time. Gen. Lee had an 
extensive country under his command, but only a few troops for 
its defence — enough, perhaps, to raise the expectations of his 
countrymen, or to allure an advance of the enemy, but not enough 
to effect anything. It was a disheartening command, where the 
utmost bravery could secure but little^lory. 

When Sherman made his bootless expedition from Yicksburg 
to Meridian, looking to some remote strategy not easily appre- 
hended — for there was no rich country to despoil, and he traversed 
a region of pine barrens and sand-hills — Lee, with his little force, 
was again in his front, falling back day by day, but at every step 
skirmishing and harassing the enemy. He hung upon his march 
from the Big Black to Meridian. Gen. Polk, with his small army, 
had retired to Demopolis ; and Sherman, with his thirty thousand 
men, marched back to his starting-point, burning a few depots on 
his route, but finding nothing of considerable value to destroy. 
The railroad, after he left it, was in running order in a month. 
Gen. Lee moved towards Okalona, to assist Forrest ; but the latter 
had already driven the Federal cavalry back into Memphis. 

In April, 1864, Lieut.-Gen. Polk was ordered to reinforce Gen. 
Johnston, then commanding the Army of Tennessee, at Dalton ; 
also to turn over the command of his department (consisting of 



684 LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 

Alabama, Mississippi, West Tennessee and East Louisiana), to 
Maj.-Gen. S. D. Lee. This placed the latter in a delicate position, as 
there were two senior officers. Major- Generals, ranking him in the 
Department, Gen. Polk took with him all the infantry, including 
even the garrison of Mobile, and the division of cavalry Gen. Lee 
had commanded, leaving the latter with a large department, 
exposed on all sides to the enemy, and no troops except a division 
of cavalry under Gen. Forrest, in North Mississippi. Memphis and 
Vicksburg were heavily garrisoned by the enemy, and he at once 
commenced making raids into East Louisiana, towards Jackson and 
from Memphis. At Gen. Johnston's urgent request, Gen, Forrest 
was started into Middle Tennessee, to interrupt railroad communi- 
cations in rear of Sherman. Scarcely had he started, when Gen. 
Lee recalled him from the vicinity of Tuscumbia, to meet Sturgis, 
marching from Memphis with about seven thousand infantry and 
cavalry. This force Forrest easily routed with less than half its 
numbers. 

Shortly thereafter, Lee, now made Lieutenant-General, was cal- 
led upon to meet another raid, moving out from Memphis, under 
A. J. Smith, and consisting of about 16,000 men, a large portion 
being veteran infantry, with some cavalry. Gen. Lee could not bring 
more than 6,000 cavalry against this force, but to show his weakness 
was to surrender his department to the enemy, to be overrun at 
their pleasure. Along the Mobile and Ohio railroad lies an exceed- 
ingly fertile country, which had never been ravaged by the Fede- 
rals, and which at that time was furnishing untold supplies to 
Johnston's army. It was of vital importance to protect it. Gen. 
Lee took command of his forces in person. lie met Smith near 
Pontotac, and after three days' desperate fighting, culminating in the 
action of Harrisburg, one of the severest fights of the war, he drove 
the enemy and compelled his retreat before a force one-third his 
numbers. The troops which achieved this victory were mostly 
those of Gen. Forrest's command under Brig.-Gens. Buford, Chal- 
mers, Rucker and Mabry. 

"When Gen. Hood was put in chief command of the Army of 
Tennessee, Gen. Lee was assigned to the command of the corps 
from which the former had been promoted. He reported on the 
20th July, and was at once put on active duty. His corps i«^s first 
engaged with a part of Stewart's in trying to prevent the enemy's 



LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 685 

extension of his line towards the west around Atlanta. There was a 
severe engagement, resulting, as did the actions of the 20th and 22d 
Jul}'-, in no advantage to the Confederates. The next action of 
importance in which Lee was engaged was at Jonesboro, where his 
own and Hardee's corps fought the enemy without success. 

In the Tennessee campaign, following the fall of Atlanta, Lee's 
corps was the first to cross the Tennessee Eiver, at Florence. At 
Columbia, the Federals evacuated the place and formed in line of 
battle on the other side of the river. Gen. Lee engaged them with 
two divisions of his corps (Stevenson's and Clayton's), while Hood 
with the other troops made a detour and gained their rear at Spring 
Hill. At Franklin, but one division of Lee's corps was engaged 
(Johnston's), but he was with it. His command took three stands 
of colours. In the two days' battles around Nashville, his corps 
was on the extreme right, and repulsed every assault of the enemy; 
but it was compelled to withdraw in some disorder when the other 
forces were found to have given way. The three days following, 
were those of flight, the enemy closely pursuing. 

Order was necessarj'- to save Hood's army. Lee's troops made 
the rear-guard ; and when retreat was determined they confronted 
the victorious pursuers, falling back slowly and steadily, and halt- 
ing the night after the fatal battle, eight miles from the field. The 
next day at early dawn, the Federal cavalry under Wilson, 8,000 or 
10,000 strong, came down upon them ; they were well managed 
and confident ; they charged front and flanks up to ten o'clock in 
the morning. But Lee, with desperate courage, held them in check. 
So bold was the enemy's cavalry that numbers of them were cap- 
tured by being dragged from their horses. About 2 P. M., Gen. 
Lee was painfully wounded in the foot, but kept command until 
11 o'clock that night. About 4 P. M., the enemy's cavalry again 
tried to rout the rear-guard, their efforts being more persistent than 
in the morning. At one time they succeeded in getting between 
Stevenson's and Clayton's divisions, assaulting both continuously 
for half an hour, but without breaking either. Next morning Gen. 
Forrest with his cavalry was sent to the assistance of the rear-guard. 
LTp to that time the only cavalry with it was a small force under 
Gen. A. Buford, who received a sabre-cut on the head, in a hand 
to hand encounter. Lee's corps was the only organized command 
during the day after the battle, and all day it had to oppose the 



686 LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 

exultant charges of the foe. He was the only corps commander 
complimented in Gen. Hood's official report. 

Gen. Lee followed the army across the Tennessee River, and 
being disabled by his wound, proceeded to Columbus, Mississippi. 
Here he found a brief time in which to indulge tenderer sentiments 
than those inspired by war's rough usage, and he was married to 
Miss Harrison, of the place, a lady known and admired for her 
intellectual accomplishments as well as for her large portion of the 
beauty, wit, and amiability belonging to her sex. He rejoined his 
command on crutches. As soon as he was able to travel, he 
reported to his corps headquarters in North Carolina. At Smith- 
field, the army was reorganized; but he was retained in command 
of his corps, and was surrendered and paroled with Gen. Johnston's 
army. 

In person, Gen. Lee is tall, six feet high, with dark hair and eyes. 
Of a high-toned and circumspect life, of unobtrusive and modestman- 
ners,he is a man who commands respect without sensation, and wins 
the steady regard of friendship, without protestation. Shy and reser- 
ved except with those he knows well, it is only in such company that 
he does himself justice. His character is not one of single, striking 
features; but he presents a fine mixture of the elements of man- 
hood, and as a military commander he was noted for the range and 
just balance of his accomplishments. A remark of President Davis 
was reported during the war in which, speaking of some officers, 
and their special fitness for different arms of the service, he added: 
" I have tried Stephen D. Lee in cavalry, infantry and artillery, 
and found him not only serviceable, but superiour in all." Fortune 
did not favour him ; but on the contrary, his frequent shiftings to 
different fields and arms disturbed the growth of his reputation, and 
multiplied the tests of his superiourity. When he was rising in 
reputation as an artillerist, in the second battle of Manassas, he was 
promoted, and sent to a brigade of infantry at Vicksburg. Here 
the actions of Chickasaw Bayou and Baker's Creek were bringing 
him into public notice, when he was transferred to a command of 
cavalry. Again, commencing another ascent of reputation, when he 
had organized his forces, and commenced to realize what success he 
could, out of the most disheartening material, and over almost in- 
surmountable obstacles, he was returned to the command of infantry, 
but this dme with the full reward of a Lieutenant-General's com- 



LIEUT.-GEN. STEPHEN D. LEE. 687 

mission, and a veteran corps in the Army of Tennessee. Prompt 
and equal to all these various tests of his abilities, he accomplished 
one of the best-founded reputations of the war. It may be said of 
him that he gave additional interest and lustre to the most glorious 
and magical name of the war — that of Lee — now thrice recorded 
in this volume, and celebrated in an unvarying story of virtuous 
sentiments and heroic deeds. 



MAJOR-GENERAL PATRICK R. CLEBURNE. 



CHAPTER LXII. 



His first military experience as a private in the British Army. — Campaign, under Har- 
dee, in Missouri. — His part in the Kentucky campaign. — Gallantry at Murfreee- 
boro'. — Splendid conduct of his division at Chickamauga. — Affair.s with the enemy 
at Tunnel Hill and Ringgold. — Gen. Cleburne's last order in the battle of Frank- 
lin. — Effect of his death on the army. — His qualities as a commander. — His hu- 
mour. — Anedotes of the camp. — The society or order of " Comrades of the Southern 
Cross." — The battle-flag of Cleburne's division. 

The military fame of Patrick H. Cleburne is summed in the 
title Le won in the war — "the Stonewall Jackson of the West." 
He was an Irishman by birth, and having crossed the Channel to 
better his fortune, found his life in England so difficult, that, as 
a last resort, he joined the British army. He was then only 
twenty-two years of age. In the low condition of the private 
soldier he took his first military lessons, and what he learned here 
of drills and discipline was often recalled to his mind on fields 
he then little dreamed of. At one time he was promoted, for 
good conduct, to the rank of corporal. After remaining about 
three years in the British army, he procured his discharge through 
the influence of some friends, and, conceiving a larger adven- 
ture, crossed the ocean to make his home in the Western wilds 
of America. 

The opening of the war of 1861 found the Irish emigrant in 
Arkansas, practicing law at Helena, and enjoying a distinction 
in his profession and in society Avon by years of honourable 
labour. He was among the first to raise a company for the 
defence of the State. With this company he joined the 15th 
Arkansas Regiment, and, when it was organized for active ser- 
vice, the choice of the men almost unanimously designated Cle- 



MAJ.-GEN". PATRICK R. CLEBURNE. 689 

burne as their Colonel. His first campaign was with Hardee, in 
Missouri. On the termination of this brief, though severe cam- 
paign (especially severe, as the troops were then unaccustomed 
to hardships), he crossed the Mississippi River, accompanying the 
command of Gen. Hardee to Bowling Green, Kentucky. 

During these short campaigns he had displayed such fine sol- 
dierly qualities that he was assigned to the command of a bri- 
gade. At the battle of Shiloh, and around Corinth, he fully sus- 
tained the estimate his superiours had formed of him ; and in the 
re-organization of the army at Tupelo, Mississippi, it was 
remarked that no officer laboured harder to improve its discipline 
and efi'ectiveness. At the battle of Richmond, Kentucky, he 
commanded a division, and to the fire and energy" of his attack 
was mainly due the defeat and almost total destruction of " Bull " 
Nelson's army. In this battle he was painfully wounded ; yet, in 
two or three weeks thereafter, we find him amidst the carnage 
at Perryville, and gathering some of the bloodiest laurels of that 
field. 

In the fierce and protracted contest of Murfreesboro, Gen. 
Cleburne commanded a division with the rank of Major-General. 
There he took part in the memorable attack on the right of the 
Federal army, the desperate power of which was arrested only 
when the mass in its front became too dense for penetration. On 
the repulse of the last charge, in the confused mass of men and 
banners, amid showers of grape, shell and canister, cutting down 
the cedars like wheat-straw, Gen. Cleburne was seen endeavour- 
ing to restore order, and braving the death whose threats shrieked 
and howled in the air around him. His time had not then come, 
and he was unscathed by the storm. 

At Chickamauga, he was one of the most prominent actors. 
In the first day's battle his division (of Hill's corps) was called up 
late in the evening to dislodge the enemy from a position he had 
stubbornly maintained during the da3\ It was about sunset; all 
was then quiet, with the exception of an occasional shot from a 
picket ; suddenly came the order for Cleburne to advance, and 
there was a blinding flash in the air and a deafening roar, the work 
of an instant. The enemy was within a short distance, and as Cle- 
burne's division advanced it was wrapped in fire and sir.oke, and 
for fifteen minutes there was one continuous roar of arms, in 

44 



690 MAJ.-GEN. PATRICK R, CLEBURNE. 

which the ear could not distinguish a moment's cessation. In 
that fifteen minutes the position was won and held ; and in the 
night that followed Cleburne, wrapt in his blanket, slept close to 
the enemy's lines, taking rest for the work of the morrow which 
made the Confederate victory complete. 

After Chickamauga, and until the retreat of the Confederate 
army from the disastrous field of Missionary Ridge, Gen. Cle- 
burne had but little opportunity to distinguish himself. In that 
retreat his division brought up the rear, and about the time it 
reached Tunnel Hill it had to sustain an assault of about 10,000 
men of all arms. Here Gen. Cleburne, by the excellent disposi- 
tion of his men and the inspiration of his commands, repulsed 
three different attacks made on his position by Sherman, chastis- 
ing that insolent commander so severely that he fell back and 
fortified, while the Confederates passed safely across the Chicka- 
mauga. The fording of this stream was an event often recalled 
by the hard}'- soldiers of Cleburne's command, whose boast it had 
been to have been " foremost in every fight and hindmost in every 
retreat." It was about three o'clock in the morning and a freezing 
atmosphere when the men plunged into the water and struggled 
to climb the frozen and slippery opposite bank. Just beyond the 
stream lay the little town of Ringgold, through which Confeder- 
ate troops were already moving ; the main army struggling in a 
confused mass among the network of running streams beyond 
the gap through which it had effected its retreat. Cleburne's 
division had almost cleared the town, and the safety of the army 
was thought assured, when again the enemy made his appearance, 
and compelled a last and desperate contest. Orders were dis- 
patched to Gen. Cleburne to form his line of battle on a com- 
manding ridge, and informed him tliat the progress of the army 
was so impeded that something must be quickly done to save it. 
The Federals advanced boldly up the ridge, attempting it bravely 
and struggling up the ascent, until in some places they had 
advanced within twenty paces of the Confederate line. But there 
were men there animated by the appeals of a favourite General, and 
determined to die rather than 3'ield an inch of the critical ground. 
The Federals were cut down by well-directed shot ; stones were 
hurled upon them by men whose muskets were impracticable ; 
and at last they retreated in confusion, leaving about 1,000 killed 



MAJ.-GEN. PATRICK R. CLEBURNE, 

and wounded and 250 prisoners. The victory won here by Gen. 
Cleburne convinced the enemy that the Confederates were not a 
demoralized fugitive army, and determined Gen. Grant to recall 
the pursuit, impressed as he already was with the necessity of 
despatching reinforcements to aid Burnside at Knoxville. 

In the series of defensive operations in which the Army of 
Tennessee was engaged under the command of Gen. Johnston, 
during the summer of 1864, Gen. Cleburne was not conspicuous, 
and there was nothing calling for especial mention of his name. 
He accompanied Gen. Hood in that famous and fatal attempt to 
recover Tennessee, which probably lost the Southern Confederacy. 
On the 20th November, 1864, the Army of Tennessee approached 
Franklin, and Gen. Cleburne arriving on the heights that over- 
looked the town, took his position on the right of the road lead- 
ing from Spring Hill. He formed his brigades into column ; 
and before the hour of attack came, he instructed his Brigadiers 
to impress upon the men the advantages of carrying the enemy's 
works at the point of the bayonet. The works, he declared, 
must be carried, and the quicker tliey were in them, the shorter 
would be the time they were under fire, and the smaller their 
loss. No man was to stop to tire ; all were to move forward as 
rapidly as possible. It was half-past three o'clock in the afternoon, 
when the signal of attack was given, Cleburne's division then 
being some 300 or 400 yards from the front line of the enemy's 
works, and sheltered by slightly rising ground. Then came the 
command, from Gen. Cleburne, "Fix bayonets!" delivered in a 
voice as clear and piercing as was the cold, sharp, deadly steel 
the men were told to handle. Another instant and the word, 
" Forward," rang down the line. It was Gen. Cleburne's last 
order ; for, in obeying it, he and half of his division marched to 
death. He was within twenty paces of the rear-rank, his sharp 
eye upon his brigadiers, searching the conduct of his troops, when 
he fell from his horse, pierced by three wounds. He died on the 
battle-field. 

"With Cleburne expired much of the spirit of the Army of 
Tennessee. His hardy and tried veterans were principally from 
the Southwestern States, beyond and bordering on the Mississippi 
River, and were distinguished for impetuosity in the charge — that 
part of the battle where the ardour of the soldier comes most 



692 MAJ.-GEN. PATRICK R, CLEBURNE. 

into plfij, and courage flames most grandly. It has been said, 
" his division would have made the reputation of any man that 
commanded it." There is some truth in this remark ; but it is 
also true that Gen. Cleburne made his division what it was, 
and educated it up to the point of uniform success. He was a 
good disciplinarian ; he was remarkable for his close personal 
attention to details ; he gained the steady regard of his troops by a 
conscientious care for all their reasonable wants ; and impetuous 
on the field, he showed his appreciation of that method of attack 
which at once acquires momentum and inspires men by the 
rapidity and decision of the movement. 

In person. Gen. Cleburne was of the medium height, sparely 
made, growing thinner as the war progressed, and mind and 
body were worn by a restless activity. He had a grey eye of 
very changeful expression, sometimes as cold and dead as that 
of a fish, yet when excited, flashing like a broad-sword. His 
hair that was originally black became very grey before the close 
of the war, and being closely cropped, it stood above his forehead 
in bristly individuality. High cheek bones, with thin lower vis- 
age, a rather sallow complexion, wnth but little beard, and 
remarkably large ears, with long limbs and heavy emphatic 
steps in walking, he was not one who, in appearance or manners, 
would have won adiniratian or confidence. Plis features were 
not repulsive, they were very plain ; but when on duty he habitu- 
ally wore on his countenance a somewhat terrible expression 
which not a little impressed his men, and signified the earnest- 
ness he reall}'^ possessed. This expression was partly natural and 
partly due to an ugly wound from a minie ball at Richmond, 
Kentucky, which had carried away two of his front teeth, and 
disfigured, his mouth. His accent would at any time have 
betrayed his nativity; but it was especially remarkable when he 
gave emphatic orders. Habitually thoughtful and grave, he was 
considered cold and repellent in manner by those who only met 
him in his oflicial capacity ; but to his intimate friends, he was 
genial and pleasant in conversation, with, at times, a real spark- 
ling of Irish wit and humour that would bring the hearty laugh 
from auditors, responsive to his rather grim smile. 

The men who served under him relate many anecdotes of his 
l)eculiar huraonr. His usual habit was to wear an old brown 



MAJ.-GEN. PATRICK R. CLEBURNE. 693 

hat, and a coat, originally of Confederate grey, dyed a dingy dirty 
black, his appearance being described as "more like a waggon- 
master than a General." For the former character he was mis- 
taken once by some of his men, at whose expense he enjoyed a 
hearty laugh. Joining a group of shivering tatterdemallions on a 
wintry day, he asked " why they did not get some rails and make 
a fire." One of them said " it would not do, they were too near 
Pat Cleburne's headquarters." The reply was, " never mind 
Pat Cleburne, get some rails and make a fire." " Well," said one 
of the group, " if you are not afraid of him, get the rails yourself, 
and I'll bet in five minutes Pat Cleburne will be down here, 
with his guard at his heels, and have you marking time in front 
of his tent." "I will take the bet," said the General, "and now 
get the rails and if anybody says anything to you, say General 
Cleburne told you to get them" — considerable emphasis being 
put on the word " General," for the title had been entirely neg- 
lected in the conversation. 

He prided himself in being up to all the " tricks" of the men; 
and indeed his former experience, as a common soldier, made 
him a master detective in this particular. In the season when 
apples ripened, it happened on the march that some of the men 
often got ahead of the division to strip the trees on the road-side 
of their fruit, and afterwards sell it in camp or trade it for bis- 
cuit. This nice arrangement was spoiled by Gen. Cleburne in a 
notable way. About the time when the stragglers would be cool- 
ing themselves under the shade of some apple-tree, and discuss- 
ing the probabilities of obtaining buttermilk at the next house, 
Cleburne's escort would come up, arrest the party, and then 
compel them to carry a load of apples to the road-side for the 
men as they passed by. The General himself superintended this 
part of the operations. He would pass an order down the column 
for each man to take two apples from the pile as he marched by; 
he would then take his position near the apples, to see that the 
men took their allowance, and woe to the unlucky wretch who 
exceeded it. The duty was performed by him with the utmost 
gravity, until he saw completed the last distribution of the stolen 
fruit. 

Gen. Cleburne is reported to have instituted, or originated, 
the secret order (approximating the order of the " Cincinnati " 



694: MAJ.-GEN. PATRICK R. CLEBURNE. 

of the old revolution) knowu as the order of the " Comrades of 
the Southern Cross," which, though partially philanthropic in its 
object, was intended mainly to bind together as one man the 
soldiers of the Southern army, obligating themselves to stand by 
each other, and never to desert their comrades in distress, or the 
cause of their country in any adversity, while she maintained an 
organized opposition to threatened tyranny. He attributed the 
valour of his troops mainly to the effect of this organization, 
and he was anxious that it should be extended throughout the 
Southern armies. 

There was a peculiarity of Cleburne's division that distin- 
guished it to the time of the death of its commander. It never 
fought under the flag of the " Southern Cross," but retained the 
original blue battle-flag with white moon in the centre, adopted 
originally by Gen. Hardee, previous to the battle of Shiloh. 
The union of the Confederate flag, the " St. Andrew's Cross," 
when adopted as the battle-flag of the Confederate armies, was, 
on more than one occasion, brought on parade to be presented to 
the different regiments of this division, but at tlie urgent solici- 
tation of the Major-General and his entire command, they were 
allowed to retain their old bullet-riddled blue flags, each of which 
had earned the significant device of the " crossed cannon invert- 
ed," and the name of every battle in which they had been 
engaged. It was, indeed, a compliment to their commander and 
the gallantry of the men that this division should have been the 
only one in the Confederate service allowed to carry into battle 
other than the national colours. This azure flag became well 
known to friends and foes ; it clearly defined Cleburne's position 
in the line; and if not always on the track of victory, it never 
moved where lurked disaster and shame. 



LIEUT.-GEN. JOSEPH WHEELER. 



CHAPTER LXIII. 



Services in the United States Army. — His command of cavalry under Gen. Bragg. — 
Important service at Murfreesboro. — Desperate encounter with the enemy at 
Shelbyville. — Personal gallantry of Gen. "Wheeler. — His famous raid into Ten- 
nessee. — Summary of services in the Western Army. — Operations of "Wheeler's 
cavalry on Sherman's march through Georgia. — Gen. "Wheeler's farewell address 
to his troops. — What he accomplished in the war. — His career and genius. 

Joseph Wheelek was born in Augusta, Georgia, on the lOtb. 
September, 1836. His youth was spent in the first schools of 
the country, and, in 185 J:, he was appointed to West Point, and 
was among tlie first that graduated under the five year rule. 

In October, 1859, he was ordered to the cavalry school at 
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and there remained on duty during the 
winter. In the spring of 1860, we find him in New Mexico, 
stationed, successively, at Forts Union, Craig, and Fillmore, and 
engaging in several important scouts against the hostile Indians. 
Early in March, 1861, seeing the storm-cloud gathering over his 
country, he at once decided his course, and ■when his native State 
seceeded, forwarded his resignation and returned to Georgia. 
On his arrival, he was commissioned 1st lieutenant of artillery 
in the regular army, and assigned to duty at Pensacola, Florida. 
He was subsequently promoted to the Colonelcy of the 19th Ala- 
bama Infantry Regiment, and bore brave part in the great 
battle of Shiloh. 

In the latter part of July, 1861, he was placed in command 
of the cavalry of the Army of Mississippi, which had been 
idle, and had worn away, for want of care, to a mere squad. 
In four days after taking command, he had penetrated the ene- 



696 LIEUT.-GEN. JOSEPH WHEELER. 

my's lines, and was destroying bridges on the line of commimi- 
eation near Bolivar and Jackson, Tennessee. A large force, not 
less than twent_y times his own, was sent to capture him, but he 
eluded his pursuers and brought liis command out in safety. 
From this period, the true genius of the young soldier began to 
expand and show itself, and it soon became manifest that the 
cavalry was to shine forth and aid our cause in a manner never 
before conceived by our military men. 

Upon the march of Bragg's army into Kentucky, Col. Wheeler 
struck many a well-aimed blow at the flanks of the enemy, as he 
rapidly retreated to the Ohio River. His gallantry and the bril- 
liancy of his charges at Mumfordsville, elicited the admiration 
and compliments of the enemy. Daring the battle of Perryville, 
he handled his command with ability, keeping back, daring the 
day, by his stubborn resistance, an entire corps of the enemy. 
Gen. Polk commended his gallantry for leading a charge in which 
a battery and a number of prisoners were taken. 

When Gen. Bragg determined to leave Kentucky, he appointed 
Col. Wheeler chief of cavalry, and entrusted to him the work of 
covering the retreat. Although this responsibility was of a mag- 
nitude sufficient to a})pal many an older soldier, this gallant and 
intrepid soldier bore it, and distinguished himself in many a bril- 
liant engagement. From Danville to Loudon, the blush of the 
grey dawn and the shades of night alike bore testimony to the able 
manner in which the enemy's exultant columns were met and 
handsomely repulsed. His soldiers soon learned, from his always 
being in front and ever watchful at night, that their labour 
was not only one of great importance, but about to reflect 
honour alike upon officer and man. Daring this retreat, his 
effective force did not exceed, at any time, one thousand men ; 
but so ingeniously did he dispose it, that he protected every 
approach to the Confederate army, and forced the enemy to 
advance in long lines of battle, under the impression that a large 
infantry force was in his front, Thas was his advance restricted 
to six or seven miles per day. So successfully was the retreat 
covered by the cavalry, that, in no instance, was an infantry 
soldier ever called upon to fire his musket. Gen. Buell, who 
was severely censured and relieved from the command of his 
army, for allowing Gen. Bragg to escape from Kentucky, stated, 



LIEUT.-GEN. JOSEPH WHEELER. 697 

officially, that the Confederate rear was covered by cavalry, 
handled with more skill than had ever been known nnder similar 
circumstances. 

After this campaign, Wheeler, upon the combined recom- 
mendation of Gens. Bragg, Polk, Hardee and Buckner, was com- 
missioned Brigadier-General, and immediately^ sent to Middle 
Tennessee. Here he was very active, sallying forth almost daily, 
frequently capturing foraging parties with their trains from Nash- 
ville, and keeping his pickets in view of the spires of that city. 
In one of these engagements his horse was torn to pieces by a 
cannon ball, his aide killed at his side, and he himself painfully 
wounded by the fraguient of a shell. During two months, he was 
engaged in twenty distinct fights, besides many skirmishes, at all 
times exhibiting so dauntless a spirit that the soldiers of his com- 
mand gave him the sobriquet of " the Little Hero." 

Just before the battle of Murfreesboro, Gen. "Wheeler did 
most valuable service in manoeuvring his command so as to hold 
the enemy in check until the Confederate army was prepared to 
grapple with him on the banks of Stono Eiver. In his official 
report of the battle, Gen. Bragg stated : "To the skillful manner 
in which the cavalry, thus ably supported, was handled, and the 
exceeding gallantry of its officers and men, must be attributed 
the four days' time engaged by the enemy in reaching the battle- 
field, a distance of only twenty miles from his encampments, over 
fine macadamized roads." During these four days it is said that 
Gen. Wheeler did not sleep as many hours, and was in the saddle 
eighteen hours out of every twenty-four, now directing a scout, 
now posting a picket, and then dashing like a phantom on some 
unsuspecting body of the enemy. 

After the battle of Murfreesboro, Wheeler was at work on the 
enemy's communications, and subsequently covered Gen. Bragg's 
front, picketing close up to the enemy's main army. Whenever 
any part of his command could be spared from the front of the 
army, he would make rapid incursions into the lines of the enemy. 
After the lapse of some months in this service, he was again called 
upon to cover the retreat of the Confederate army, as it left the 
fertile lands of the hospitable and patriotic people of Middle 
Tennessee, and sought the line of the Tennessee Eiver at Chat- 
tanooga. In this movement occurred a desperate encounter at 



698 LIEUT.-GEN. JOSEPH WHEELER. 

Shelbyville, and a remarkable display of personal gallantry on 
the part of Gen. Wheeler. He had been left at Shelbyville to 
cover the movement of the army to Tullahoma ; and, forming his 
command in front of the Conrt-House, he fought the enemy 
warmly as he approached. Finally a column was seen moving 
rapidly down the road upon which Forrest was expected. Sud- 
denly, as the column drew near, it was discovered they were 
Federals instead of friends. Three other heavy columns were 
pressing upon him. One of them had charged a portion of his 
forces and driven them over the Tullahoma Briclore. Finding: 
himself so completely surrounded, Wheeler started the remainder 
of his command out of town, and remained with his escort, and 
checked one column which threatened their destruction. Charge 
after charge was made, and his sabre flashed over the head of 
many an invader. When entirely surrounded, he charged through 
a column which held his line of retreat, and might have himself 
retired without further danger. He then saw that a portion of 
his forces had been cut off, and the Federals held the bridge 
over Duck Kiver, which, if permitted without further resistance, 
would have enabled them to have pursued and overtaken the 
army trains. Regardless of his own lif^, he quickly gathered 
some fifty or sixty brave spirits, and like a brave " Navarre," 
hurled himself upon the enemy's flanks, driving them back into 
the town in utter confusion, opening the road for the escape of 
his command, and placing the waggon train out of danger. The 
enemy rallied, and charged again and again, but Wheeler met 
them with volleys of pistol shots and the clatter of sabres, and 
repulsed them. It was now sundown ; everything was across 
Duck River in security, and he was about to make still another 
charge, when a staff officer came up and pointed to his rear, 
where the enemy had again surrounded him. Wheeling quickly, 
he charged through a column of the enemy and plunged head- 
long into the river, then swollen to a mighty torrent, and amid a 
shower of bullets, he clambered up the opposite bank. Of the 
sixty who formed this " forlorn hope," but thii-teen escaped, and 
three of these were badly wounded. Gen. Wheeler was dressed 
in full uniform, and citizens and prisoners taken early in the fight 
so described him that the Federals easily recognized him, and 
repeatedly called to each other to capture him. They afterwards 



LIEUT.-GEN. JOSEPH WHEELER. 699 

told the citizens of Shelby ville that they " had whipped him that 
day, but that he was the bravest man in the world." 

It is not within the limits and design of this sketch to detail 
all the operations of Wheeler's command. Its incessant activity 
would make a long story, and we can do scarcely more than 
glance at its remarkable services which followed the battle of 
Chickamauga. The most important and brilliant of these was a 
raid into Tennessee, in which Gen. Wheeler was ordered to make 
the circuit of Rosecrans' army. So worn and jaded were his men 
and horses that his subordinate commanders gave it as their 
opinion that it was impracticable to execute the order. The com- 
manders of three brigades entered solemn protests against their 
commands being further called upon in their unserviceable and 
worn condition. Cavalry officers of extended experience asserted 
that half of the command w^ould be lost from inability to travel, 
and even predicted the entire command would be sacrificed. In 
the face of these discouraging statements and predictions, Wheeler 
knew nothing but obedience to his orders, and the bugle notes 
to " march " were sounded. By a skillful ruse dc guerre^ he boldly 
crossed the Tennessee River at Cotton Port, in the face of an 
enemy whose strength was fully equal to his own, and drove him 
towards the Cumberland mountains, capturing nearly a hundred 
prisoners. At dusk the column was put in motion towards Wal- 
dron's Ridge, in a drenching storm. About 10 o'clock, General 
Wheeler being in advance with his staff and escort, encountered 
in the extreme darkness of the night a regiment of cavalry, which 
he charged, driving them into the most perfect confusion, wound- 
ing a few of the enemy, and capturing ten prisoners. With great 
difficulty the command marched up the mountain, and next day 
reached Sequatchie Yalley. By this time the horses were 
exceedingly worn. He selected about 1,300 of the best mounted 
men, and took the saddle on the 2d October, 1863, to scour the 
valley in search of his prey, while the remainder of the command 
was ordered to march slowly over Cumberland mountain towards 
McMinnville. 

Arriving at Anderson's Cross-Roads, he came in sight of his 
prey. Upon the level valley as far as the eye could reach, and 
all the way up the mountains, nothing but the white tops of the 
enemy's waggon-trains could be seen. This train was guarded by 



700 LIEUT.-GEN, JOSEPH WHEELER. 

a brigade of cavalry in front, one in rear, and a brigade of infantry 
supported by cavalry was directly opposed to him. For nearly 
two hours the enemy resisted stubbornly, but by attacking each 
column with vigour in detail, before they had time to concentrate. 
Gen. Wheeler succeeded in routing them — thus capturing the 
entire train, with more than a thousand prisoners. 'No accurate 
estimate of the number of waggons and value of the property 
captured could be made, as no one person saw the entire train. 
The Federal qnartermaster in charge showed by his papers that 
it numbered 800 government waggons, drawn by mules, loaded 
with all kinds of quartermaster, commissary, ordnance and 
medical stores, besides which there were a large number of sut- 
lers' waggons, and other private vehicles of all kinds — probabh' in 
all about 1,000 waggons. Many citizens who saw the train esti- 
mated the number at between 2,000 and 3,000 waggons. Some of 
the enemy's newspapers represented it as the richest train cap- 
tured during the war. 

From McMinnville Gen. Wheeler moved towards the N^ash- 
ville railroad. The enemy at Murfreesboro having been strongly 
reinforced, he deemed it unwise to attack him in his fortifications. 
After capturing a strong stockade, with its garrison, in the 
suburbs, destroying the large railroad bridge over Stono River, 
and tearing up several miles of the track, he moved down the 
railroad to Wartrace, capturing two trains with supplies at 
Christiana and Fostersville, tearing up many miles of the track, 
burning all the railroad bridges, including the large ones near 
and just below Wartrace and over Duck River, and capturing 
the stockades, with the garrisons. Thence he marched on Shelby- 
ville, where he captured and destroyed a large quantity of 
stores, the garrison having beat a hasty retreat the night previous. 
The garrison of Columbia also retreated rapidly towards Nashville, 
after destroying their stores. 

The designs of the expedition had been accomplished with 
far greater success than the most sanguine had expected. Gen. 
Wheeler commenced his return march towards the Tennessee 
River. Rosecrans' entire cavalry force, not less than 13,000 men, 
had been warmly fighting him in rear and on the flanks for four 
days, and had been continually repulsed with great loss. Con- 
testing his way with steady courage and unremitting toil, Gen. 



LIEUT.-GEN. JOSEPH WHEELER. 701 

Wheeler continued his withdrawal to the Tennessee River, and 
crossed it at Mnscle Shoals, the enemy appearing on the northern 
bank as he reached the southern. For forty successive days he 
had been engaged with the enemy ; he had obtained a victory 
in every fight, destroyed a vast amount of property, and, most 
important circumstance of all, he had drawn from Kosecrans all 
of his cavalry. Indeed, it was this forced absence of the enemy's 
cavalry,to which may be attributed the saving of the Confeder- 
ate army from utter destruction, when it was defeated at Mis« 
sionary Ridge, and hard pressed by Hooker's infantry in its rear. 

In his campaign in East Tennessee with Longstreet ; in his 
engagements on Johnston's retreat to Atlanta ; in his part in the 
first eight days in the siege of Knoxville, and in the battles of 
Ringgold, Rocky Face, Dalton, Resaca, Cassville, jSTew Hope, 
Kennesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, and Decatur, Gen. 
Wheeler was constantly engaged in fighting superiour forces of 
the enemy, and with such success, that it was remarked that the 
army never met a reverse, or was otherwise than successful in 
its undertakings, while he commanded its cavahy. When At- 
lanta was wrested from the Confederates, Wheeler was in Ten- 
nessee ; and during Hood's disastrous campaign in Tennessee, 
Wheeler was fighting Sherman in Georgia. 

In the latter part of January, 1865, Sherman commenced his 
march towards Augusta, which march Gen. Wheeler contested, 
step by step, daily inflicting heavy losses upon the enemy. Ev- 
ery bridge was burned, and deadly volleys poured into Sherman's 
columns as they attempted to force passages of streams by ford- 
ing. By this means, the progress of the enemy was slow, and 
thus ample time was given for the defence of Augusta and other 
cities. On February 10th and 11th, Gen. Wheeler had a severe 
fight with the enemy at Aiken, driving back vastly superiour 
numbers in the greatest confusion, capturing, killing and wound- 
ing over two hundred. By these victories, not only were 
Augusta and Aiken saved, but also the vast manufactories in 
Graniteville and its vicinity. At Columbia, Gen. Beauregard 
had assumed command, with a portion of the Army of Tennes- 
see to defend it. Wheeler fought the enemy desperately on his 
approach to the city, holding him for two days beyond gun-shot 
range. After the enemy's capture of Columbia, he continued to 



702 LIEUT.-GEN. JOSEPH WHEELER. 

harass him as he moved through the Carolinas, daily taking large 
numbers of prisoners. At A very sboro, Gen. Hardee had become 
engaged with a largely superiour force of the enemy. Gen. 
Wheeler, hearing the gnns, hastened to his relief, reaching the 
field just in time to check a force of the enemy which was turn- 
ing his flank, and would have caused great disaster to his army. 
At Beltonville, he held the left of the Confederate army, and did 
some heavy fighting during the two da^'S of the engagement. 
By a gallant charge here he restored the Confederate line of 
retreat or communication, and held the enemy at bay until John- 
ston got across Mill Creek. After this battle, Sherman moved 
with his army to Goldsboro, thus ending the campaign through 
the Carolinas, during which, Gen. Wheeler captured or placed 
hors de combat more than five thousand of the enemy ; was vic- 
tor in a number of engagements, and saved from the enemy's 
ravages, Augusta and several smaller cities. 

Thus ended hostile conflicts east of the Mississippi River. 
During the spring, Wheeler was appointed by the President, 
Lieutenant-General of Cavalry, he having held a command 
which entitled him to that rank continuously for two years and 
a half, a longer period than any other ofiicer of the Confederate 
army had retained continuous command of an army corps in the 
field. Upon the surrender of the Confederate Army, Gen. 
Wheeler issued the following farewell address — 

Headquarters Cavalry Corps, ) 
AprU 29 th, 1865. ) 

" Gallant Comrades: 

" You have fought your battles, your task is done. During a 
four years' struggle for liberty, you have exhibited courage, 
fortitude and devotion ; you are the sole victors of more than two 
hundred severely contested fields ; you have participated in more 
than a thousand successful conflicts of arms ; you are Heroes, 
Veterans, Patriots; the bones of your comrades mark battle- 
fields upon the soil of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi ; 
you have done all that human exertion could accomplish. In 
bidding you adieu, I desire to tender my thanks for your gallan- 
try in battle, your fortitude under sufiering, and your devotion 



LIEUT.-GEN. JOSEPH WHEELER. 703 

at all times to the holy cause you have done so much to main- 
tain. I desire also to express my gratitude for the kind feeling 
you have seen fit to extend towards myself, and to invoke upon 
you the blessings of our Heavenly Father, to whom we must 
always look for support in the hour of distress. 

"Brethren in the cause of freedom, Comrades in arms, I bid 
you farewell! 

'' J. Wheeler." 

Gen. Wheeler had commanded in more than two hundred 
actions, many of which, considering the numbers engaged, were 
the most severe and successful recorded in the history of cavalry. 
In each case where his strength had been equal, and in many 
cases where it was far inferiour to that by which he was opposed, 
he had entirely overcome the enemy, capturing or dispersing 
him. In many cases. Gen. Wheeler had been called upon to 
engage forces many times his superiour, in order to retard the 
enemy while covering retreats, or to create a diversion while 
important movements were carried on in other localities. Oper- 
ations of this character, which are the most difficult the service 
presents, had been conducted by Gen. Wheeler with such consum- 
mate skill, that not only had he invariably accomplished the 
desired object, but in almost every case inflicted a loss upon the 
enemy far heavier than that which he himself sustained. 

Such was the career of a man whose promotion, based upon 
his own merits, without having influence or friends, presents a 
rapidity of military advancement with scarcely a parallel in 
American or European armies. A Cadet at seventeen, a Second 
Lieutenant at twenty-two, a First Lieutenant at twenty-three, a 
Colonel at twenty-four, a Brigadier-General at twenty-five, a 
Major-General at twenty six, a Corps Commander at twenty-six, 
a LieutenantGeneral at twenty-eight. 

Gen. Wheeler had sixteen horses killed under him in the war, 
and a great number wounded. His saddle equipments and 
clothes had also been frequently struck by the missiles of the 
enemy. He had himself been three times slightly wounded, and 
once painfully. He had had thirty-two stafi" ofiicers, or acting 
staif officers, killed or wounded. In almost every case when his 
staff officers had been wounded, they were immediately by his 



704 LIEUT.-GEN. JOSEPH "WHEELER. 

side, as tliey sank from their horses to the ground. Although 
small in stature, Gen, "Wheeler is in appearance, " every inch a 
soldier," and bears a head which, as termed bj the phrenologists, 
is " admirably fixed." His eye is the very impersonation of that 
quick conception, heroic valour and dauntless courage, which 
stamped him as one of the great leaders of the war, and which 
explains how he manoeuvred his command under a hail-storm of 
the missiles of death, regarding them no more than leaves wafted 
by the wind — or how he led his squadrons to the charge, crashing 
into the enemy's ranks, and perfectly unconscious of the carnage 
and death by w^hich he was everywhere surrounded. The con- 
tour of his face and the expression of his countenance exhibit 
that cool judgment, calm thoughtfulness, and quiet dignity, which 
mark his career as a soldier and gentleman. The arduous duties 
he performed, which his large cavalry command devolved upon 
him, only strengthened his energy and endurance. His soldiers 
had learned to love and admire in him all those noble traits, which, 
as the distinguished author of Charles XH. says, " stamp him as 
the steel-clad warrior, with the heart of the patriot and sympa- 
thizing man beating in every action." 

In scientific and literary attainments. Gen. Wheeler stands 
among the most learned men of our countr}'-. In military infor- 
mation he is most thoroughly read. His sj'stem of " Cavalry 
Tactics " is pronounced by cavalry ofiicers to be the most com- 
plete and perfect work yet published. His leisure moments are 
spent in the study of his profession. A work he is rejDorted to 
be now preparing, showing the part taken by cavalry in many 
of the great battles of the world, is said to show great research 
and profound knowledge. 



BRIG.-GEN. FELIX K. ZOLLICOFFER. 



CHAPTER LXY. 



His early life as a politician and member of Congress. — Appointed a Brigadier-Gen- 
eral in the Confederate States Army. — His leniency to the people of Eaist Ten- 
nessee. — At Cumberland Gap. — Letter to Governor Magoffin. — The " wild-cat 
stampede." — Killed in the battle of Mill Springs. — How the enemy insulted his 
corpse. — His character. — Extraordinary public regret of his death. 

The record of Gen. Felix K. ZollicofFer in the war was brief; 
he fell in the first year of the contest ; but at this period of tlie war 
there had been no death that inspired a pro founder sorrow, for he 
was a man peculiarly beloved, one who had a wide range of vir- 
tues, and a popularity extending over the space of many years. 

He was born in Tennessee. He was of Swiss descent, but in 
what degree the writer is unable to state. His early education was 
limited, and he was thrown with but little preparation upon his 
own resources. In his boyhood, he was employed in a printing- 
office, where he soon became proficient, and was advanced to the 
editorship of a political newspaper. In 1835, he was editor of the 
Columbia Observer ; and afterwards was editor of the Nashville 
Banner, which paper he conducted with ability and success as an 
exponent of the Whig creed of that day. Here he earned for him- 
self considerable celebrity as a leader and partisan. In 1841, he 
was appointed Attorney-General of the State. In the same year 
he was elected Comptroller by the Legislature, and in 1849 he was 
elected to the State Senate. In 1853, he was sent to Congress from 
the Nashville district, which position he continued to hold by 
several re-elections, acquiring much popular distinction as a debater 
on the leading issues of the day. In the arena of politics he was 
remarkable for the array of facts which he brought to bear upon 

45 



706 BRIG.-GEN. FELIX K. ZOLLICOFFER. 

all the subjects he discussed ; and in this respect, he was a verjr 
formidable and dangerous opponent. He was not eloquent, but he 
was powerful in amassing and wielding figures and statistics, and 
he often vanquished superiour rhetoric by superiour facts. 

In the time of Zollicoffer, to be a Whig in Tennessee was to be 
for the Union. He shared this view of his party, until the excite- 
ment arose on the Kansas-Nebraska question, when he began gra- 
dually to coincide with the extreme Southern view of the difficul- 
ties then besetting the country. Meanwhile, he had taken an 
earnest and prominent part in advocating a reform of the naturali- 
zation policy, believing that the preservation of the Union, in a 
great measure, depended upon a more restricted system with regard 
to foreigners. In 1860, he was an earnest advocate of the Bell 
and Everett Presidential ticket, and so active was his interest in 
its success that he canvassed the State of New York for it, declar- 
ing his conviction that the election of Abraham Lincoln would 
result in a sectional war. Having done all he could to avert the 
catastrophe, according to his theory, and regarding the weakness 
of the South in the face of impending hostilities, he did not hesitate 
to gird on his sword, and risk all for his native land. Public opinion 
had already designated him as a conspicuous actor in the new 
drama. 

He took part in the first stages of the war, assisted in the organi- 
zation of the provisional army of Tennessee, and was appointed 
by the Governor a Brigadier-General. This grade was afterwards 
confirmed by the Confederate Government, and he was assigned a 
command in the eastern part of Tennessee. In his new sphere of 
duty he was distinguished by the same patience, industry and 
moderation which had marked his former life. He had many 
difficulties to encounter, especially in the strong sentiment of oppo- 
sition to the Southern movement, which obtained in that part of the 
State where he commanded. But it is historical now that he acted 
with great justice and moderation. The following order was 
issued on his taking command, and in the lenient spirit of it he 
continued to act, despite of its abuse by the enemy : 



"} 



" Brigade Headquartebs, 
"KnoXTIlle, August 18, 1861. 

"The General in command, gratified at the preservation of 

peace and the rapidly increasing evidences of confidence and good 



BRIG.-GEN". FELIX K. ZOLLICOFFER. TOY 

will among the people of East Tennessee, strictly enjoins upon those 
under his command the most scrupulous regard for the personal 
and property rights of all the inhabitants. No act or word will be 
tolerated calculated to alarm or irritate those who, though hereto- 
fore advocating the National Union, now acquiesce in the decision 
of the State and submit to the authority of the Government of the 
Confederate States. Such of the people as have fled from their 
homes, under an apprehension of danger, will be encouraged to 
return, with an assurance of entire security to all who wish to pur- 
sue their respective avocations peacefully at home. The Confede- 
rate Government seeks not to enter into questions of difference of 
political opinions heretofore existing, but to maintain the indepen- 
dence it has asserted by the united feeling and action of all its 
citizens. Colonels of regiments and Captains of companies will be 
held responsible for a strict observance of this injunction within 
their respective commands, and each officer commanding a separate 
detachment or post will have this order read to his command." 

No one can lay at the door of this just and humane commander, 
the responsibility for any outrages upon person or property. But 
time and emergency pressed, and he was precipitated forward to 
Cumberland Gap, and into Kentucky. On the 14th September, 
1861, he wrote to Gov. Magoffin as follows: "The safety of Ten- 
nessee requiring, I occupy the mountain passes at Cumberland, and 
the three long mountains in Kentucky. For weeks I have known 
that the Federal commander at Hoskins' Cross Roads was threaten- 
ing the invasion of East Tennessee, and ruthlessly urging our peo- 
ple to destroy our railroad and bridges. I postponed this precau- 
tionary movement until the despotic government at "Washington, 
refusing to recognize the neutrality of Kentucky, has established 
formidable camps in the centre and other parts of the State, with 
the view first to subjugate your gallant State and then ourselves. 
* * * jf iT^Q Federals will now withdraw from their menac- 
ing position, the force under my command shall be immediately 
withdrawn." 

Finding this proposition scoffed. Gen. Zollicoffer advanced a 
portion of his command to Barboursville, and dispersed a Federal 
camp there without any serious struggle. Thence he moved in the 
direction of Somerset, causing the retreat of Gen. Schoepff, the Fede- 



708 BRIG.-GEN. FELIX K. ZOLLICOFFER. 

ral commander, which from its frantic disorder took the name of 
"the wild cat stampede." In January, 1862, his command (about 
4,000 men) was on the upper waters of the Cumberland, near Mill 
Springs, Maj.-Gen. Crittenden ranking him ; and here occurred the 
unfortunate battle of the 19th January, in which this small force 
was thrown against enormous odds, and suffered a defeat which 
broke the right of the Confederate defensive line in Kentucky. It 
was a sad affair, and for Zollicofifer a short record — a single cam- 
paign, a single battle, and then death. In the attack he commanded 
the first column, consisting of four regiments of infantry and four 
guns. The day at first went well for the Confederates, and Zolli- 
cofifer's command was ascending a hill where the enemy had col- 
lected his strength, when the General fell, to the consternation 
and dismay of his troops, whose disorder and rout were then soon 
completed. 

He fell near the camp of the enemy. As he rode forward, as 
he believed, to victory, he came upon a regiment of Kentuckians, 
commanded by Col. Fry, concealed in a piece of woods. The first 
intimation he had of his dangerous position was received when it 
was too late. Although a rubber overcoat concealed his uniform, 
his features were recognized, and a man called out "There's Zolli- 
cofifer, kill him." At that moment an aide to Gen. Zollicoffer 
drew his revolver and fired, killing the person who first recognized 
the General. Col. Fry was within a short distance of Zollicoffer, 
and the latter, hoping yet to deceive the enemy, rode within a few 
feet of him and said, " You are not going to fight your friends, are 
you?" pointing to a Mississippi regiment in the distance. The 
reply was a pistol shot from the Colonel and a volley of musket 
balls, and Gen. Zollicofifer fell from his horse a mangled corpse. 

His body was treated with a brutal curiosity, at the bare recital 
of which the blood runs cold. A correspondent of a Northern 
newspaper says that as it lay upon the ground it was surrounded 
by Federal soldiers, when an officer rode up exclaiming to the 
men : " What in h — 1 are you doing here ? Why are you not at 
the stretchers bringing in the wounded ? " "This is Zollicofifer," 
said a soldier. " I know that," replied the officer, " he is dead, and 
could not have been sent to h — 1 by a better man, for Col. Fry 
shot him — leave him and go to your work." Another correspon- 
dent indulged in the following survey of the corpse: "It lay by 



BRIG.-GEN. FELIX K. ZOLLICOFFER. 709 

the side of the road along which we all passed, and all had a fair 
view of what was once Zollicoffer, I saw the lifeless body as it 
lay in a fence-corner by the side of the road, but Zollicoffer him- 
self is now in hell. Hell is a fitting abode for all such arch-traitors. 
May all the other chief conspirators in this rebellion soon share 
Zollicoflfer's fate — shot dead through the instrumentality of an 
avenging God — their spirits sent straightway to hell, and their life- 
less bodies lie in a fence-corner, their faces spattered with mud, and 
their garments divided up, and even the hair of their head cut 
off and pulled out by an unsympathizing soldiery of a conquering 
array, battling for the right." Comment is unnecessary, further 
than to say that it is seldom the death of a brave enemy has been 
thus viewed by the worst savages, or by the filthiest cowards, or, 
in brief, by any form of men, short of incarnate devils. 

There is good reason to believe that Gen. Zollicoffer, in agreeing 
to the experiment of attack at Mill Springs, was imposed upon by 
spies, and that the information he acted on, as to the force and 
position of the enemy, was designedly false. While he was as 
brave a man as ever lived, he was eminently cautious and circum- 
spect. He was slow to form his conclusions, deliberate in all his 
purposes, as well as firm and tenacious in following up what he 
had resolved upon. Those who knew him best have long per- 
sisted in the belief that he would never have made the movement 
he did upon the camps of the enemy, unless upon apparent facts 
far more satisfactory than the sequel would seem to warrant. 

Gen. Zollicoffer, at the time of his death, must have been 
between forty-five and fifty years of age. He was a man of 
unblemished moral character. He was amiable and modest in his 
deportment, but quick as lightning in resenting an insult or a reflec- 
tion upon his honour. No man possessed a cooler courage or 
superiour perseverance. In his mental characteristics he was not 
brilliant ; he had but little imagination, and never aspired to orna- 
ment in his literary style. But he was untiring in his application ; 
he took clear and solid views of all subjects; and he would 
undoubtedly have become eminent in the war as a division com- 
mander, if courage, firmness, industry and high moral conduct 
could have achieved the distinction. His life was without a stain, 
and his death was heroic. Many public honours were paid to his 
memory in the South ; the Provisional Government of Kentucky 



710 BRIG. -GEN. FELIX K. ZOLLICOFFER. 

named one of the counties of the State in honour of him ; and a 
meeting in New Orleans, called to testify the public sorrow at his 
death, declared that " no man, since Gen. Andrew Jackson, enjoyed 
so completely the confidence and undivided esteem of the people 
of Tennessee." 



LIEUT.-GEN. ALEXANDER P. STEWART. 



CHAPTER LXVL 

Ffime as a scholar and instructor. — His different Professorships. — First services in 
the Confederate States Army. — Various commands in the "West. — Memorable 
action of his division at New Hope Church. — A compliment from Gen. Johnston. — 
A review of his character. — A tribute from one of the most distinguished schol- 
ars of the South. 

At the close of the war, Alexander P. Stewart was ranking 
officer from the State of Tennessee. He was born 2d October, 
1821, at Rogers ville, in East Tennessee. His parents were poor, 
but remarkable for their piety and zeal in the Methodist Church; 
his father, descended from a Scotch-Irish family that had settled 
in Delaware, was noted for his integrity, and still lives, in his 
seventy-sixth year, residing at Winchester, Tennessee, honoured by 
all who know him, and crowned with all the satisfactions of a well- 
spent life. 

His family removed to Franklin county. Middle Tennessee, 
when the subject of our sketch was eight or ten years old. He 
soon showed an aptitude for books, and was put to school, and 
liberally educated by an uncle, the late Mr. Benjamin Decherd, of 
Winchester, Tennessee. In 1838, he procured, through Hon. 
Hopkins L. Turney, an appointment to West Point, where he 
graduated in 1812, in the same class with Longstreet, D. H. Hill, 
Van Dorn, G. W. Smith, R. H. Anderson, McLaws, Rosecrans, 
and Pope. Commissioned a second lieutenant in the Third Artil- 
lery, he was stationed one year at Fort Macon, in North Carolina. 
He was then ordered back to West Point as Assistant Professor 
of Mathematics, and fulfilled the duties of the instructor's chair 
for two years. In 1845, he resigned from the army and married 



712 LIEUT.-GEN". ALEXANDER P. STEWART. 

Miss Harriet Chase, of Ohio, a connection of the Spalding family, 
and a niece of Judge Rufus P. Spalding, present member of Con- 
gress from the Cleveland district of Ohio. After this event in his 
life, he settled in Lebanon, Tennessee, and was elected to a pro- 
fessorship in Cumberland University. He was connected with 
this institution of learning from 1845 to 1861, excepting three 
years, in one of which he occupied a chair in the Nashville Uni- 
versity, and in two others, from 1854 to 1856, had charge of a 
female school at Lebanon. In 1850, he was offered, and declined 
the professorship in the Virginia Military Institute, afterwards filled 
by Stonewall Jackson. In 1854, he declined the professorship in 
the Mississippi University, formerly filled by Professor Bledsoe, 
and in the following year he was urged to accept a chair in the 
Washington University, at St. Louis, but refused to leave his hon- 
oured post as instructor in Tennessee. The number and variety 
of these calls attest the high scholarly worth of the man, and the 
extent of his fame in the South. 

When the bombardment of Fort Sumter sounded the dread 
summons of war. Professor Stewart, recollecting his military edu- 
cation, offered his services to Gov. Harris, and was at once employ- 
ed by the Military Board at Nashville, in making army contracts, 
establishing camps, and giving, in various ways, to the rising war- 
spirit of the land the benefit of his military experience. In May, 
1861, he was appointed Major of the the Tennessee artillery corps. 
He had been offered command of the 7th regiment of infantry 
(Hatton's), but he disclaimed all thought of ambition and considera- 
tions of rank, and was directed by a sense of duty to the artillery 
arm of the service, in which he considered himself most proficient. 
His command was at first stationed at Eandolph, on the Mississippi 
River, and in August, 1861, was sent to Island No. 10, and com- 
menced to fortify that position. Thence it was ordered to Colum- 
bus, Kentucky, after that place was occupied by Gen. Polk ; and 
in the battle of Belmont which ensued, Stewart had command of 
all the heavy artillery, and did distinguished service in turning 
upon Gen. Grant's column the heavy rifled gun (the Lady Polk), 
from the fort on the bluff, and arresting his career of victory at the 
time he had driven the Confederate infantry to the river. 

The commission of Stewart as Brigadier-General, was dated the 
8th November, 1861. It, as well as all the promotions he subsequent- 



LIEUT.-GEN. ALEXANDER P. STEWART. 713 

ly obtained, was unsolicited by him ; he never visited the Confede- 
rate capita], he was thoroughly innocent of all political intermedia- 
tions, and the official honours bestowed upon his career were never 
sought by him, and were valued only as approving testimonies to his 
conscience in the performance of his duty. On the evacuation of 
Columbus in 1S62, he was sent to Island No. 10, to report to Maj.- 
Gen. McCown, and was placed by him in command at New Madrid. 
The defence of this island was an extraordinary one, and has been 
recited in all the histories of the war. Gen. Pope came down the 
river with more than 30,000 troops; the effective force of the Con- 
federates was 2,700 men in two little forts a mile apart, while on 
the water they had nothing but the sham gun-boats of Commodore 
Hollins. The evacuation of New Madrid was superintended by 
Gen. Stewart, and was the only successful incident for the Con- 
federates, as finally they had to surrender the island, but not until 
they had held at bay for ten days, a force that should have instantly 
overwhelmed them. 

At the battle of Shiloh, Gen. Stewart commanded a brigade in 
Clark's division of Polk's corps. Gen. Clark being wounded, he 
took command of this division, and fought it with skill and vigour. 
In Gen. Bragg's Kentucky campaign, he commanded a brigade in 
Cheatham's division — one of the three brigades that bore the brunt 
of battle at Perry ville. These three brigades (Donelson's, Stewart's 
and Maney's), fought on the extreme right, and lost 1,500 men out 
of the total loss of twenty-one or twenty-two hundred sustained by 
the Confederates on that field. Gen. Stewart commanded the same 
tried brigade in the battle of Murfreesboro. 

In the subsequent chequered history of the Army of Tennessee, 
the name of Gen. Stewart constantly occurs, with increasing fame, 
and shows brilliantly even in some of its stories of disaster. In 
June, 1863, he was commissioned a Major-General, and assigned to 
the command of a division in Hardee's corps. At Hoover's Gap, 
where the advancing enemy was desperately held until Gen. 
Bragg could retire his forces towards Tullahoma, he was the superi- 
our Confederate officer, and seconded by the brave Bate and his 
other brigade commanders, he achieved a success that proved vital 
in its consequences. Before the battle of Chickamauga, he rein- 
forced Buckner, and operated in East Tennessee. 

After this battle, the Army of Tennessee was reorganized. To 



714 LIEUT.-GEN. ALEXANDER P. STEWART. 

Gen. Stewart's command were assigned Clayton's, Gibson's, 
Stovall's and Strahl's brigades; and his division thus composed 
was put in Breckinridge's corps, and fought on the extreme left on 
Missionary Ridge. When the Confederate lines were broken there. 
Gen. Stewart was ordered by Breckinridge to take command at the 
bridge over the Chickamauga, and here he saved much of the dis- 
astrous day, restoring order, collecting the troops, passing them 
over the bridge, and then burning it in the face of the enemy. 

While the Confederate army recovered at Dalton, Gen. Stewart 
occupied Mill Creek Gap in Rocky Face, and sustained the brunt 
of Gen. Thomas' attack in February, 1864. On the repulse of the 
Federals, he fortified the gap and mountain, constructing lines of 
small advanced works for skirmishers ; and it has been remarked 
that this experiment of Gen. Stewart led to the general custom in 
the Army of Tennessee, during the campaign under Johnston, of 
intrenching the skirmish line. In the famous retreat through North 
Georgia, and especially at Resaca, Stewart's division was conspi- 
cuous, and did some of the hardest and most successful service of 
the campaign. At New Hope Church, he held the centre of Hood's 
corps, and gave the enemy a terrible lesson, fighting the whole of 
Hooker's corps, and inflicting upon it a loss of nearly 3,000 men. 
This fight was made by Stewart's division alone ; his command 
was without intrenchments, other than a few logs hastily piled up ; 
the Commanding General, in great anxiety, sent several brigades 
to report to him ; but he did not use the reinforcements, and with 
the loss of not more than 400 men, he sustained the enemy's entire 
attack, and obtained the first decided success on the Confederate 
side since the campaign had opened. This was perhaps the most 
brilliant event in Gen. Stewart's military career. His personal 
gallantry on the field was marked and admirable ; during the 
whole fight he rode up and down the line encouraging his troops, 
and to their frequent entreaties to " go back," he replied steadily 
and with a self-possessed and cheerful courage, that he was there to 
die with them. The next morning his men sent him a touching 
message — that he should take care of himself, as they wished no 
one else to command them. 

On the death of Gen. Polk, June 7, 1864, Gen. Stewart was 
promoted Lieut. -General and succeeded to the command of his 
corps. In announcing to him his promotion, Gen. Johnston re- 



LIEUT.-GEN. ALEXANDER. P. STEWART. 715 

marked : " I did not recommend any one. I only telegraphed that 
you were the best Major-General in this army for the position." 
On the 20th July, he participated in the battle of Peach Tree 
Creek, and a portion of his command (Loring's Division) carried 
the enemy's works, but, owing to some disconcert of the action on 
the right, was unable to maintain its success. In a subsequent 
action on the Lick-Skillet road, an attempt to turn the enemy's 
right, Gen. Stewart was wounded, and had to retire from the field. 

His wound detained him several weeks from his command. 
When Gen. Hood recrossed the Chattahooche, Stewart's corps was 
sent to capture the enemy's posts and destroy the railroad from 
Big Shanty to Ackworth. One of his divisions (French's) was 
detached to attack Alatoona, and might have captured the place, 
but for a false alarm of the enemy's movements which induced it to 
draw off. In the campaign of Hood into Tennessee, Gen. Stewart 
was actively engaged in the battles of Franklin and Nashville, 
and in the first day's fight at the last mentioned place, although 
forced back, he still handled his troops so well as to prevent a 
rout, and keep the enemy at bay. The next day he was in the 
centre, and it was the disaster on the Confederate left that lost 
the field. 

After the retreat from Tennessee, Gen. Stewart was ordered to 
Augusta, Georgia, and thence to North Carolina. He commanded 
all that remained of the Army of Tennessee on the field of Benton- 
ville on the 21st March, 1865 — an honourable da}'- for the brave 
fragment of that army. He was at Greensboro when Gen. Johnston 
surrendered. 

This brief sketch of the military life of Gen. Stewart shows a 
career remarkable for its steady advances in reputation and solid 
worth. He was another example of Christian virtue in the Con- 
federate armies ; his piety was as remarkable as his valour ; and he 
is most tenderly known for his private walks of charity, and his 
shining example in the Presbyterian church of which he is a mem- 
ber. To this imperfect record of a man, admirable in other res- 
pects than that of arms, the writer may add here some passages 
from a letter from a literary associate of the General in the days 
before the war. The tribute is from the pen of Doctor N. Lawrence 
Lindsley, a gentleman whose name is known far beyond the limits 
of Tennessee, whose labours as a lexicographer have honoured and 



71G LIEUT.-GEi^. ALEXANDER P. STEWART. 

improved the South, and whose stores of pure and tasteful lan- 
guage give to whatever he writes a scholarly interest. His letter 
refers to Gen. Stewart as the Professor, and proceeds to some just 
and admirable reflections on the revived concern of learning in 
the South. 

"He observed himself, and required in his students, punctu- 
ality in regard to all College appointments, thoroughly entering 
into the sentiment of Seneca, that ' time is almost the only thing 
of which to be covetous is a virtne.' To the respect and admira- 
tion in which he was ever held by his pupils, was added their 
devoted affection. He was not only their teacher, but a counsellor, 
guide and friend, ever exhibiting as lively concern for their health 
and comfort, as for their intellectual progress. Even in the audiio- 
rium, frigid as such places commonly are, and chilling as are its 
exercises, the students realized the amplitude and wealth of his 
heart, as well as of his head. Possessing, by nature, talents of a 
high order, accomplished in all liberal studies, and, in the truest 
sense, trained for the educator's work. Gen. Stewart devoted him- 
self, from first to last, with untiring assiduity to the duties of his 
office; winning a reputation, in his chosen field, of which the 
University had cause to be proud, and which, at the time of its 
suspension in '61, was second to that of no other mathematical 
instructor in the land. But it is not my purpose, in this commu- 
nication, with sounding phrases to essay to set forth his praise. 
Such an effort would be out of keeping with his character, which 
is marked far more by utility than display. He had, years pre- 
vious to the war, been crowned with that pure fame which is the 
best earthly reward of meritorious exertions. He stood and stands 
among the foremost of our men of science and scholars. Frequently 
invited to other institutions, and but lately elected President of the 
University whose mathematical chair he had made famous, he 
bears his honours with that unconscious ease which is the test of 
true worth. 

" His moral and personal qualities form the proper complement 
of Gen, Stewart's public character. Unaffected deportment stamps 
him, with its authentic seal, the thorough gentleman. The virtues 
and humanities of domestic life, softening and shading down the 
energy of his intellect, unite to render him, at his fireside, and in 
all social circles, the object of equal affection and admiration. Pos- 



LIEUr.-GEN. ALEXANDER P. STEWAKT. 717 

sessing an uncommon degree of refinement, punctilious in his 
observance of all the nicer proprieties of life, never encroaching on 
the sanctity of those rights and feelings which, unprotected by law, 
must owe their security to delicacy of sentiment in enlightened 
communities, a firm believer, without a shade of bigotry, in the 
Christian religion, an ardent lover of truth, liberal in his principles, 
affable in his manners, and combining with extraordinary attain- 
ments in the severer sciences the art of recommending them with 
impressive effect. Gen. Stewart is undeniably one of the most useful 
of men, and a living proof that pure patriotism is not a delusion, 
nor virtue an empty name. 

" Ours is the noblest form of government when a people are 
prepared for it, and to this end they require a higher education 
than obtains in any other country. And on the same principle, we 
ought to have more philosophers, men of science, artists, authors, 
statesmen — in fine more great men and accomplished citizens than 
any other people. The highest forms of culture need to be multi- 
plied, not merely for embellishment, but to preserve our very exist- 
ence as a nation, which has been all the while endangered by 
cunning demagogues and boastful sciolists abounding much more 
than men of high intelligence and real worth. The sons of 
Greece caught new life from desperation. And fortunate it is for 
the desolated but heroic South, that her Stewarts^ her Lees, and 
others, are now consecrating their great talents and mighty ener- 
gies to a work which, more than all others, will infuse new life 
into the people, revive and surpass the prosperity of former days, 
and win, from surrounding ruin, a triumph more glorious than the 
greatest recorded in American history. It was well said by the 
gifted Jean Paul Eichter • — ' Honour to those who labour in 
school-rooms.' " 



MAJ.-GEN. BENJAMIN F. CHEATHAM. 



CHAPTER LXVn. 

His military services in Mexico. — His popularity at home. — Comma,nds in the "West. — 
Adventure in the battle of Belmont. — Record of his division in the Army of Ten- 
nessee. — Anecdote, illustrating his fighting qualities. 

Benjamin Franklin Cheatham was born in Davidson 
county, Middle Tennessee, in 1819. He was a nephew of the first 
male child born in that county, and was grandson of the famous 
old Indian fighter, Robinson, to perpetuate whose memory and 
virtues the adjacent county was named. His father was, dur- 
ing the administration of Martin Van Buren, postmaster at Nash- 
ville, and the son was his deputy, and discharged the duties of the 
place. He never went further into public ofiice, although he was 
often solicited, on account of his popularity, to stand for some of 
the honours within the gift of his party ; and he was tendered a 
foreign mission during Mr. Buchanan's Administration, which he 
declined from his preference for private life. 

In 1846, he went to Mexico as captain of a company in the 1st 
Tennessee regiment. With this company he fought at Monterey, 
and there first attracted marked attention for his skill and daring 
courage. With his regiment he had participated in the preceding 
battles of Palo Alto and Eesaca de la Palma. From Monterey, he 
joined Gen, Scott at Vera Cruz. The time for which his company 
had enlisted expired soon afterwards, and he returned to Nash- 
ville, and raised a regiment. With this he again joined Gen, Scott 
on his march to the capital of the country, and participated in 
nearly all the battles around the City of Mexico, In most of 
these desperate conflicts, as senior colonel, he commanded a 
brigade. 



MAJ.-GEN. BENJAMIN F. CHEATHAM. 719 

At the close of the Mexican war, Col. Cheatham returned to his 
farm near Nashville, where he remained nearl}'- a year. He then 
went to California, where he resided- about two years, and again 
returned to Nashville. He seems to have been happy in his suc- 
cessful farming operations; his life was sweetened by many friend- 
ships ; and it is said that he was more universally beloved by his 
neighbours, and those who knew him best, than any man in East 
Tennessee. He was in these peaceful and dear occupations when 
the alarm of war aroused him. In the commencement of hostili- 
ties, he organized, at the request of the Military Board of Tennes- 
see, the whole supply department of the Western army, and was 
thus constantly emploj^ed up to the time of his appointment as 
Brigadier-General by President Davis. His commission bore date 
in May, 1861. 

Immediately after his appointment, Gen. Cheatham took off 
the "West Tennessee regiments and established the camp at Union 
City. He participated in the Missouri campaign in the demon- 
stration against Cape Girardeau. The first fire exchanged between 
the enemy and the Confederate army in the West was at Hickman, 
by order of Gen. Cheatham. From Hickman he went with his 
command to Columbus, and thence to Mayfield, twenty-five miles 
on the road to Paducah. He was anxious to capture this place, 
and thus prevent the ascent of the Tennessee river by Federal gun- 
boats. He was, however, ordered back to Columbus, where his 
brigade did its full share in perfecting the fortifications. 

On the 7th November, 1861, Gen. Cheatham led three regi- 
ments of Pillow's brigade (Pillow commanding the whole force 
thrown that day across the Mississippi) in the battle of Belmont. 
On crossing the river, Cheatham collected parts of three regiments, 
Wright's, Tappan's and Walker's, and passed through the woods 
to the rear of the enemy. It was this movement which defeated 
the enemy, and put him in flight to his gunboats, five miles dis- 
tant. The route of the retreat was strewn with the slain, and as 
the Federals crowded on board the boats, Cheatham's command 
followed them up, and with deadly volleys swept the decks of the 
steamers. 

An incident of personal adventure occurred in this battle, in 
which Gen. Cheatham narrowly escaped. Just as he was about 
to attack the enem}'- he discovered a squadron of cavalry coming 



720 MAJ.-GEN. BENJAMIN F. CHEATHAM. 

down the road near his position. Uncertain as to which force it 
belonged to, he rode up, accompanied only by an orderly, to within 
a few yards of it and inquired: "What cavalry is that?" 
"Illinois cavalry, Sir," was the reply. "Oh! Illinois cavalry. 
All right; just stand where you are." The cavalry obeyed the 
coolly uttered order; and Gen. Cheatham rode safely back, directly 
under the guns of another Federal regiment which had by that 
time come up, but seeing him riding from the direction of the 
cavalry, shared the mistake that he was a Federal officer. 

On the 1st March, 1862, Columbus was evacuated. In accom- 
plishing this movement Gen. Cheatham toiled both day and night. 
His brigade went to Bethel, twenty miles from Corinth, on the 
Mobile and Ohio railroad. Thence he was ordered by Gen. John- 
ston to the field of Shiloh, some twenty miles distant. 

He was near the right wing of the Confederate army on that 
field, and entered the fight about nine o'clock in the morning. He 
was under fire about three hours, and charged a battery, which 
was taken off the field by the retreating enemy. The next day 
Cheatham held his command steadily before the reinforced Fed- 
erals. He was ordered off the field by Gen. Beauregard at three 
o'clock in the afternoon. liot pursued, he fell back to Corinth, 
where he commanded the left wing of Polk's corps. 

Cheatham's commission as Major-General bore date in March, 
1862, before the battle of Shiloh was fought. From Corinth and 
Tupelo his division moved to Chattanooga, and thence marched 
across Tennessee into Kentucky. At the battle of Perryville it 
bore the brunt of the conflict, and won brilliant honours. In the 
evacuation of Kentucky, Cheatham commanded the right wing, 
the rear-guard, of the Army of the Mississippi. At Murfreesboro 
his division, with that of Withers', formed the left wing of the 
army, and in the afternoon of the first day's fight was thrown upon 
the position where the enemy had massed his artillery, and suf- 
fered greatly. In the two actions of Chickamauga, Cheatham's 
veterans had a critical part, and in the first day encountered 
Thomas' corps, while making a desperate attempt to turn the right 
wing of the Confederates, and for three hours withstood the most 
terrible shock of battle. The record of his command extended 
through all the operations of the Army of Tennessee, sharing iu 
Hood's final campaign. 



MAJ.-GEN". BENJAMIN F. CHEATHAM. 721 

His reputation in that army was always high. He was regarded 
rather as an executive officer than a strategist ; yet he was believed 
to be far superiour to many of his rank in the conception of plans 
and campaigns. His intellect was quick and acute. With the 
ardour of the soldier, he had the discernment of the commander. 
In an eminent degree he possessed that indispensable quality of a 
leader of troops, which enabled him to go wherever duty or neces- 
sity demanded his presence, without inquiring if it was dangerous 
or safe. He understood thoroughly that it was better that a leader 
should lose his life than his honour ; and that there was no better 
mode of exciting courage than by displaying his own. 

An anecdote illustrates the estimation in which the enemy held 
his fighting qualities. Near the field of Murfreesboro, Gen. Alex- 
ander McDowell McCook had established his headquarters at the 
house of a gentleman resident in the rear of the Confederate lines. 
He commanded the enemy's right wing. When he heard the first 
sound of attack he was engaged in shaving. He instantly rushed 
from the room, saying, without addressing anybody, in a confused 
and excited manner : " That is contrary to orders ! " He ordered 
bis horse to be brought without delay, and turning to the gentle- 
man at whose house he was, hurriedly asked : " Who is opposing 
me to-day ? " " Major-General Cheatham." General McCook, 
turning ashy pale, and trembling from some nameless einotion, 
rejoined: "Is it possible that I have to meet Cheatham again!" 
The information was incorrect, as Gen. Cheatham fought on the 
right at Murfreesboro ; but the force of the anecdote is not dimin- 
ished on that account. 

Gen. Cheatham is squarely and firmly built, and is noted for 
his extraordinary phj'sical strength. He is slightly round-shoul- 
dered, and his weight is about two hundred pounds. His height 
is about five feet eight inches; his eyes are light blue, clear and 
expressive; his hair light brown; his complexion fair; and his 
moustache — he wears no other beard — very heavy. His forehead 
is broad, and his face expressive of that imperturbable good humour 
which characterizes him not more in social life than on the battle- 
field. 

46 



MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 



CHAPTER LXVIII. 

Enlists as a private in the Mexican "War. — His distinction there. — Public honours in 
Tennessee. — Colonel of the 2d Tennessee Regiment. — Curious plan to capture 
the Federal fleet in the Potomac. — His extraordinary and successful appeal to 
the Tennessee soldiers to re-enlist for the war. — Sent to the army of Gen. 
A. S. Johnston. — A compliment to his command. — In the battle of Shlloh. — Pro- 
motion of Gen. Bate. — Action of Hoover's Gap. — An admirable sentiment to a 
political convention. — At Chickamauga. — Re-organization of the Army of Ten- 
nessee. — Record of Bate's division. — Its part in Hood's campaign. — How its Une 
was broken in the battle of Nashville. — Explanations of this disaster. — At Ben- 
tonvUle. — The surrender. — Gen. Bate a wanderer. — Returns to Tennessee. — His 
political sentiments after the war. 

William B. Bate was born on tlie 7th October, 1S26, near 
Cascalian Springs, in Sumner county, State of Tennessee. Here 
he passed the period of youth amid a generous and cultivated 
moral people. Left an orphan at fifteen years of age, without 
patrimony, he soon developed a spirit of independence and love of 
adventure. He started life, while yet in his " teens,'* as a steam- 
boat clerk, being in that capacity in New Orleans at the outbreak 
of the Mexican War, which opened to him the visions of a 
soldier's life. He enlisted as a private in a Louisiana regiment, 
and embarked for the seat of war. He served his time out, and reen- 
listed in a Tennessee regiment, and finally became Lieutenant and 
Acting Adjutant of Cheatham's 3d Tennessee Eegiment. In this 
capacity he was a favourite with Gen. Joe Lane, who was his Briga- 
dier, and accompanied him in a volunteer capacity in his famous 
raids, near the close of the war, in pursuit of Santa Anna, He 
especially distinguished himself for daring and adventure in these 
romantic and perilous trips, and captured the last flag ever taken 
in that war by U. S. force.s, which is still a trophy in Tennessee. 



MA J.- GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 723 

Upon the cessation of hostilities in 1848, Lieut. Bate returned 
to his native place. He became an editor at twentj-one ; in which 
capacity he exhibited vigorous thought and a graceful style in 
writing. He was elected at this early age to represent his native 
county in the Tennessee Legislature; and he subsequently enjoyed 
many public honours in his State. In 1854, when by an amend- 
ment to the Constitution of Tennessee, judicial officers were for the 
first time elected by the people. Bate became a candidate for 
Attorney-General of the Nashville District, and in the face of 
strong and talented opposition was elected. His career, as public 
prosecutor, was full of incidents; and to this day the features of 
many an important criminal trial conducted by him remain indel- 
ibly impressed upon the public mind. His powers as an advo- 
cate, when aroused, were rarely equalled ; his argument was 
always clear, cogent and pointed, and his eloquence fervid and 
impressive. For six years in this capacity his legal labours were 
uninterrupted, save by an occasional dash into the more exciting 
field of politics, especiallj'- in 1855, when he took an active part on 
the stump, in favour of the Gubernatorial election of Andrew 
Johnson. 

When the telegraph flashed over the land the news of the first 
fire at Fort Sumter, Bate responded to it with instant excitement 
and extraordinary zeal. He left the court-house, where he was 
actively engaged in an important trial, and headed a list that day 
as a " high private " in the Southern army. Tennessee, hesitating 
as to what course she would pursue, he was not to be restrained 
by what he deemed the too tardy deliberation of his State, and he 
immediately started to Montgomery, to see if troops would be 
received from his State, in anticipation of her entering the Con- 
federate league of defence. Upon the solicitation of the then- 
Secretary of War, L. P. Walker, he returned to his company, of 
which he was elected captain, and extending his field of opera- 
tions, he soon assembled around his standard a regiment of as gal- 
lant men as ever levelled a gun. He was elected its Colonel, and 
in the first week of May, 1861, he was at the head of his volun- 
teers in Virginia. They were mustered into the Confederate ser- 
vice at Lynchburg, as the 2d Confederate Eegiment of Tennessee • 
Volunteers, the command of Turney having reached the rendez- 
vous the day before, and gained the appellation of the 1st. No 



724 MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 

regiment was better organized, drilled, and disciplined than the 
one Col. Bate placed thus early in the field ; and nothing is haz- 
arded in saying, that for gallantry, active service, .devotion to the 
cause, and the number of battles on its rolls, it had no superiour in 
the history of the Confederate struggle. It was armed and equip- 
ped under the auspices of Gen. Eobert E. Lee, who was then (in 
May, 1861) at Eichraond, organizing forces for the State of Vir- 
ginia. 

The Eichmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Eailroad, which 
dips into the Potomac at Acquia Creek, being threatened by a 
naval fleet of the enemy, consisting of the Pawnee, Freeborn, and 
other Federal vessels, Col. Bate was ordered with his command to 
support the naval batteries of Virginia at that point, and resist the 
landing of troops by the enemy. The first artillery of. the war 
fired, after Sumter, was levelled at his command, and a number of 
Virginia troops, supporting the guns of Capt. Lynch (of " Dead 
Sea " fame) of the Confederate Navy, in the engagement of Acquia 
Creek, which continued during a greater portion of the 30th May, 
18G1, and ended in the discomfiture and retirement of the enemy. 
This singular spectacle, at so early a period in the struggle, of Ten- 
nessee troops from a distant portion of the State, uniting upon 
the very frontier of Virginia with her own valourous sons, to pro- 
tect the integrity of her boundaries, and to resist her invasion by 
an unscrupulous and malignant enemy, w^as productive of the- 
most salutary influence upon the early struggle of the Confederacy. 

Shortly after this, an important expedition of land and naval 
forces was organized, for the desperate purpose of boarding the 
naval fleet in the Potomac, capturing it, and turning it upon the 
commerce of the enem}^ For the command of tlie land forces, 
Col. Bate was selected by the government at Eichmond. At the 
head of 500 picked men of his own regiment he proceeded by steamer 
down the Eappahanock Eiver ; and, landing in Northumberland 
County, made a forced march across the country to Cone Eiver in 
time to meet the steamer St. Nicholas, on which his troops were to 
have embarked for the fleet. The successful capture of this vessel 
the night before by Col. Thomas alias Zarvona, for this purpose, 
was a part of the programme, then not understood by the public, 
and reported in the newspapers as a desperate and foolish inci- 
dent. The killing of the Federal Admiral Ward the day before by 



MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 725 

a picket on the Virginia shore, caused the departure of the fleet 
with his remains to Washington, and saved it from a probable 
capture, and the consummation of a scheme which at that time was 
of momentous consequence to the Confederacy. The precision 
with which this expedition was managed, and the close connection 
made bj Col. Bate with the St. Nicholas, arranging it all so as to pass 
over the country, and reach her before the news of the movement 
could be known to the people in time to be conveyed to the enemy, 
was deemed a success, which accident alone changed into a disap- 
pointment. As it was, the St. Nicholas made a successful detour 
of the Chesapeake Bay, under Commodore Hollins, captured four 
merchantmen, laden with necessary supplies, and passed up the 
Rappahanock with great eclat. 

With the command of then Brig. -Gen. Holmes, Col. Bate's 
regiment made a forced march from Brooks' Station on the Rich- 
mond, Fredricksburg and Potomac Railroad to Manassas Junction, 
and arrived there the day before the great battle of the 21st July. 
Assigned to what was then regarded the imminent portion of the 
line, the right commanded by Gen. Ewell, it participated in the dis- 
appointment which met the almost certain promise of an engagement 
on that part of the line in the early part of the day. About two 
o'clock in the afternoon, however, the firing in the centre giving 
token of a desperate encounter in that portion of the field, the force 
of which Col. Bate's command was part, moved at a double-quick 
a distance of four miles to relieve the brave men who were there 
struggling to resist the impetuous onset of the enemy. This march 
was performed under a heavy fire of artillery, directed by the Fed- 
erals to prevent the consummation of the object of the movement. 
While the force of Gen. Holmes reached the critical point just a 
little too late to have seized the opportunity by which the arrival 
of the command of Kirby Smith a short time before enabled it to 
distinguish itself, they were present to enjoy the spectacle of the 
entire rout of the enemy, and to aid in the dismay and panic which 
seized him at the appearance of fresh troops. 

Returning from Manassas Junction Col. Bate was left, on the 
return of Gen. Holmes' command to their old quarters at Brooks' 
Station, to occupy Evansport, where was located the subsequent 
blockade of the Potomac. He strongly recommended this means 
of embarrassing the enemy, to his superiour ofl^cers, and was finally 



726 MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 

gratified by the order to erect and fortify this point for that pur- 
pose, a reinforcement of Pagan's 1st Arkansas regiment, and the 
11th North Carolina, under Col. Pettigrew, participating with the 
2nd Tennessee, in the erection of the works, and their subsequent 
garrison. By this well-timed measure, water communication to the 
Federal capital was cut off, and naval vessels and transports of 
supply blockaded from a passage to and fro, causing an amount of 
embarrassment and expenditure to the Government at Washington, 
as well as failure to its contractors, that demonstrated the vital point 
in which the blockade had assailed it. Col. Bate being assigned 
to the command of a brigade of troops, remained on the Potomac, 
guarding the water approaches to our lines until the latter part of 
February, 1862. 

It was about this time that he achieved a success, even more 
creditable than a victory of arms. The first period of despondency 
had seized the Southern Confederacy, and threatened it with an 
early demise. The soldiers all along the Potomac had become 
disgusted with the inactivity of camp life, and weary with the 
watching of gunboats, which glided through the placid waters of 
that border river. Unused to absence from home and friends, they 
were restive under the restraints of military life, and were threaten- 
ing to disband at the expiration of the first year of the war. It 
was a time when all the power and tact of their commanders were 
called into requisition to correct the malcontents, and give them a 
new inspiration to duty. A brief but stirring speech of Col. Bate 
at dress parade, pointing out the necessities of the country and the 
demands of patriotism, had an effect which but few of such appeals 
had yet obtained. His eloquence led captive his whole regiment 
of Tennessee volunteers. Within forty-eight hours the regiment, 
800 strong, had the honour of enlisting for two years more, before 
yet a conscript law had passed to constrain their service. It was 
the first example of reenlistment, shortly followed to a great extent 
by Pagan's noble band of 1st Arkansas, and was considered such 
a marked evidence of patriotism, that it was proposed in the Legis- 
lature of Tennessee to strike for this regiment a medal of honour. 

Shortly after this honourable and pleasing event, Col Bate left 
Virginia, and chose the West as the theatre of his military ambition. 
In consideration of the reenlistment of his men, and as an extraor- 
dinary compliment to them, he was allowed by the Secretary of 



MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 727 

"War to furlough them, and to remove them to whatever field of 
action he might prefer. Before their furloughs had half expired, 
he reassembled them at Huntsville, Alabama, and moved them to 
Corinth, where the retreating forces of Gen. Albert Sidney Johns- 
ton were convening for battle. The readiness of Col Bate in re- 
enlisting his men had already obtained for him the regard of this 
distinguished military chieftain. At this time the troops of some 
of the Cotton States were in the habit of deriding the Tennessee 
soldiers, because of the Fishing Creek disaster. On reporting to 
Gen. Johnston, Col. Bate was asked in what organization he would 
like to place his men, as it was considered that their good conduct 
had given their commander the right of selection. He replied that 
he wished to place the 2d Tennessee between regiments from the 
States which had been deriding their fellow soldiers ; that it would 
lead wherever they would dare to follow. Penetrated by the 
remark, and affectionately placing his hands on the speaker's 
shoulders, the eye of the grand old hero kindled as he declared that 
the Confederacy was invincible as long as such was the spirit of 
its defenders. 

Col, Bate was ordered, at his own request, the day before the 
battle of Shiloh, to join Hardee's corps, w^hich had already moved, 
and which he did in time for the opening of the dread encounter. 
Placed on the extreme left, his division encountered the force of a 
whole division of the enemy, and pursued the fiery path of con- 
flict with the steadiness of veterans. Col. Bate had six of his 
family in this engagement, three of whom were killed, two crip- 
pled for life, and himself fearfully wounded. His brother, Capt. 
Humphrey Bate, was shot down gallantly leading his men. A 
writer describing at the time the scene which ensued, says: "Side 
by side upon the same couch lay these two brothers, one mortally 
and the other dangerously wounded. But before the battle ends, 
the affecting conversation between them ceases, and the Captain's life- 
less body tells the Colonel that death has closed all communion upon 
earth." The ball which struck down Col. Bate, pierced the left 
leg just below the knee, causing a compound fracture of both bones 
of the limb, and then passed through the body of the horse he rode. 
This noble animal — a beautiful black stallion — probably the most 
valuable horse in the engagement, with touching intelligence, fol- 
lowed the prostrate form of his master as it was conveyed to the 



728 MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 

field hospital ; and as he trod the earth with head yet erect and 
the currents of his own blood staining his sides, recognizing his 
master as he insensibly bled to death in following him, it was a 
scene that touched the human heart, and challenged the pencil of 
the artist. 

Eemoved to Columbus, Mississippi, Col. Bate remained in bed 
five months, undergoing a protracted siege of suffering from his 
wound. As soon as he expressed a conviction that he would be 
able again to take the field, President Davis tendered him a pro- 
motion as Brigadier-General. When able to moVe only on crutches, 
he was ordered to the command of the district of North Alabama, 
and afterwards to the more important post of Chattanooga, posi- 
tions which he filled with the greatest satisfaction to his superiour 
officers, and that of his government. This command, however, 
did not consist with the desire for active service, which was his 
foremost aspiration. The comforts of a city headquarters did not 
satisfy the restless energy o'f his nature, or his impulse to be 
engaged in service in the face of the enemy. With his crutch in 
one hand and the good blade which he had flashed upon Shiloh 
and other fields in the other, he asked the privilege to lead again a 
command upon the perilous issue of battle. His wishes were 
pressed upon Gen. Bragg, then in command of the Western forces, 
who assigned him to the command of the late Gen. Rains' brigade, 
in McCown's division of his army. When that division was 
ordered to the relief of Vicksburg, Gen. Bragg retained Gen. 
Bate's services for immediate operation with the Army of Ten- 
nessee, withdrawing one of his regiments, the 37th Georgia, to be 
retained as a nucleus for a new brigade. Adding to it the 4th 
Georgia battalion of Sharpshooters, the 58th Alabama, the 15th, 
20th and 37th Tennessee regiments, and the Euflila Alabama Light 
Artillery, a brigade was constituted for him which had no superiour 
in the army. With this command Gen. Bate was sent to a point 
near Fairfield, three or four miles from Hoover's Gap. Tliis Gap 
was an important strategic position, involving as it did the secur- 
ity of the right flank and rear of Gen. Bragg's position at Tulla- 
homa and Shelby ville. Rosecrans, at the opening of this campaign 
in July, 18G3, moved on it rapidly with an entire corps of his 
army. So sudden was the movement, that the small force of cav- 
alry holding it gave way before time could be had for the arrival 



MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 729 

of reinforcements. Gen. Bate, then near Fairfield, was ordered bj 
his division commander (Maj.-Gen. Stewart) first with only a part 
of his command, and afterwards with three regiments of infantry 
and a section of artillery, to hurry to the front, and meet the force 
of Federals who had come through the gap and were pouring into 
the valley. With his small command rapidly distributed, and 
with admirable disposition, he attacked the exultant enemy, 
checked his advance, and held him at bay with perfect success. 
The force of the enemy, at first supposed to be a mere brigade of 
cavalry, was soon ascertained to be a corps of inflmtry, and all 
arms, constituting the advance of the army of Kosecrans, which 
but for the sanguinary and vigorous opposition which it met from 
the small command of Gen. Bate, might have succeeded in its 
intention of getting on the flank and rear of the army of Gen. 
Bragg. The advance, however, of Bate was so rapid and his 
assault so fierce that it staggered and checked the head of the Fed- 
eral column, and drove it back into the jaws of the Gap. Leaving 
a small force in front, he moved with great rapidity the bulk of 
his infantry and a section of artillery to the left of the point of 
attack, to check the enemy's movement in that direction. This 
was a timely disposition, and effected its object, but not without a 
severe conflict. The result of it was the head of Rosecrans' army 
was thus checked on that part of his line for that evening, which 
gave Gen. Bragg time to concentrate his forces at Tallahoma. 

Shortly before this engagement, the people of Tennessee sent 
delegates to a Convention to choose a candidate for Governor to 
succeed Gov. Harris, whose term was then about to expire. This 
body met at Winchester. A large number of delegates, represent- 
ing the valour and chivalry of the sons of Tennessee, assembled. 
Gen. Bate was the favourite of a large portion of the members for 
the position ; but during its deliberations a dispatch was received 
from him, which honoured him in the estimation of every member 
of that Convention, and of every true Tennesseean. Declining the 
nomination most unequivocally and positively, he referred to the 
duty he owed his State, and said : " I will take no civil office in 
Tennessee. I would rather be her defender than her Governor." 

Upon the retreat of Gen. Bragg south of the Tennessee Eiver, 
Bate's command, without other than temporary separation, con- 
formed to the movements of Stewart's division. After the tern- 



730 MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 

porarj transfer of Lieut.-Gen. Hardee to Mississippi, he was placed 
in the corps of Gen. D. H. Hill, until immediately preceding the 
manoeuvring for the battle of Cbickamauga, when Stewart's divi- 
sion became a part of Buckner's corps, in the consummation 
of that historic drama, on the 19th and 20th September, 1863. 
Gen. A. P. Stewart, his immediate commander, speaks of him in 
his official report of this battle, as " the indomitable Bate." He 
opened the fight on the evening of the 18th, near Alexandria 
bridge, and on the ISth and 19th was on what might be termed 
the left centre of the line of battle, where perhaps there was more 
desperate fighting than on any part of the blood}'' field. His com- 
mand was desperately engaged on both days, and at the close of 
the contest showed by official reports a greater per cent, of loss 
than any command in the army. On the 19th he had two horses 
killed under him, and a third shot. Every staff officer and courier 
had lost their horses. Unhorsed for the second time in one charge, 
being still unable to walk without crutches, Gen. Bate was yet 
determined to advance with his command. Instantly he had a 
horse cut from a battery, mounted him without saddle, and moved 
to the head of his shattered columns, amid the wildest shouts from 
his soldiers. 

Soon after this battle a reorganization of the Army of Tennes- 
see to a considerable extent took place. Gen. Bate, still a Brig- 
adier, was offijred a Major-General's commission, with a division of 
cavalry, but his health, precarious from his wounds, rendered him 
unfit for the arduous duty of a cavalry command, and by the per- 
suasion of his medical advices, and immediate personal friends, he 
declined it. In the reorganization Gen. Breckinridge was put in 
command of a corps, and Gen. Bate in command of Breckinridge's 
division, composed of the Kentucky brigade under Gen. Lewis, 
Finley's Florida brigade. Bate's brigade increased by the addition 
of the 10th and 30th Tennessee regiments, Slocum's 5th, "Washing- 
ton artillery and Gracey's and Mebane's batteries (the 5Sth Ala- 
bama being withdrawn). While he commanded this division, the 
disastrous fight in front of Chattanooga, known as the battle of 
Missionary Ridge, took place, in which he so distinguished himself 
under the immediate eye of the Commanding General (Bragg) as 
to elicit special commendation for signal services from him in a 
telegraphic dispatch to the government at Richmond. 



MAJ.-GEN". WILLIAM B. BATE. 731 

The Army of Tennessee having retreated to Dalton, Georgia, it 
enjoj^ed its first repose for any length of time since its organiza- 
tion; for it had literally been since leaving Bowling Green, 1862, 
an army of locomotion and battle. Gen. Johnston having taken 
command he soon began to shape its organization and repair its 
wasted strength for his celebrated North Georgia campaign. Gen. 
Bate having been highly recommended was promoted to the rank 
of Major-General, and upon the assigment of Gen. Breckinridge to 
the department of Western Virginia, he was permanently assigned 
to the command of Breckinridge's division in the corps of Lieut.- 
Gen. Hardee. Daring the winter he organized it to the highest per- 
fection, and none bore a more active or successful part in the mem- 
orable retreat to Atlanta, which was but a series of battles between 
Johnston and Sherman for three months. His division partici- 
pated in all of the many battles which made half the breadth of 
Georgia's soil, over which the hostile armies manoeuvred, a scene of 
sanguinary conflict. Eesaca, New Hope Church, Pine Mountain, 
Dallas, Kennesaw Mountain, Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, and a 
host of other less important contests, were all illustrated by the 
heroic participation of Bate's division, and the valour of its leader. 
He brought up the rear from Dalton on the night of the 12th May, 
held on the 14th, at Eesaca, the salient in the field on the left 
centre of the line, which was several times severely assaulted by 
the enemy in several lines deep. In fact, in all of the engagements 
which culminated in those around Atlanta, his command bore a 
conspicuous and gallant part. 

It participated in the battles of the 20th and 22d July, around 
Atlanta, which were the first essays of Gen. Hood to save that 
doomed city from the invading Federal army. Like the other por- 
tions of the corps, it was repulsed in assailing the Federal fortifica- 
tions, but not without first inflicting severe punishment upon the 
enemy. It was in reserve and did not participate in the battle of 
the 28th July. On the 6th August, however, with his division 
alone, Gen. Bate had a severe engagement on the Lick-Skillet 
Eoad, in which he ambushed the enemy, having prepared his lines 
with such skill and judgment as to induce an attack. The assault 
was vigorous and fatal, resulting in the great discomfiture of the 
enemy, the capture of several stands of colours and many prison- 
ers and arms. This affair was so unique and managed with such 



732 MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 

skill as to elicit a special publication, and complimentary commu- 
nication to the government from the Commanding General, 

A day or two after this Gen. Bate received a wound through 
the leg which had already been disabled, this time involving the 
knee, and making him a more helpless cripple than ever. He was 
confined to a sick bed for several weeks. Having heard, while lan- 
guishing from his wound, of the reported arrest of his mother, and 
the banishment from her home of his only sister, and not having 
looked towards his Tennessee home since his departure for Virginia 
in the spring of 1861, he resolved, notwithstanding his physical 
condition, to rejoin his command, then on the march with Gen. 
tlood to his native Tennessee. He rejoined his division as it made 
the circuit of Home, Georgia. He found in it many changes. 
The famous Kentucky brigade had been mounted, and passed 
from it; H. II. Johnson's Georgia brigade had been added to it; 
and the corps had been assigned to the command of Maj.-Gen. 
Cheatham. Gen. Bate participated in the movements around Dal- 
ton, Georgia, of Hood's advance north, captured the block-house in 
Mill Creek Gap, and pursued the retreating enemy from Tunnell 
Hill. His command was a part of the army as it swept through 
North Georgia to Gadsen, Alabama, across Sand Mountain and in 
that fatal sally into Tennessee. It was a part of the attacking col- 
umn in that ill-starred and bloody drama at Franklin on the 30th. 
November, 1864, which destroyed the vitality, hope, and spirit of 
the once magnificent Army of Tennessee. The position assigned 
him was on the extreme left of the infantry line, and being requir- 
ed to make the arc, while those on the right made the chord of the 
circle, he did not strike the enemy's works at the exact time of 
those on his right, but pushed in upon them in fine style and spirit, 
driving his adversary from his outer works, while the right of his 
division, under Gen. H. R. Jackson, entered his interiour lines. In 
this engagement he lost twenty per cent, of his command, many 
of his most valuable officers, and had his own horse shot under him 
immediately in front of the Federal breastworks. 

As the main army moved on Nashville, Gen. Bate was ordered 
to make a detour to a given point in the neighborhood of Murfrees- 
boro, destroying the railroad, block-houses, bridges, etc., along his 
route. He accomplished this expedition, and had an affair with 
the enemy at Murfreesboro, in which he rallied his men by a char- 



MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 733 

acteristic act of personal daring. Seeing the lines giving way, he 
seized the colours of the nearest regiment, and putting spurs to his 
horse made him leap the works in face of the enemy's line of bat- 
tle. With a crutch swung to his side and the colours grasped in 
his hand, he made himself a spectacle for the whole field, and with 
such effect that he not only brought his men to check the enemy, 
but drove back part of his line, and remained on the field at the 
close of the day. 

It becoming apparent that the rapid concentration of Federal 
forces at Nashville indicated an attack upon the main army there, 
Gen. Bate was ordered to join the right flank (under Gen. Cheat- 
ham) of that wasted and unfortunate little army, which was strung 
out in the form of a crescent around the Capital of Tennessee, then 
swollen with Federal troops recently drawn from Arkansas, Mis- 
souri, and Kentucky and united with the army of Thomas for the 
expulsion of Gen. Hood. The sleet and severe freezes had made 
the surface of the earth a sheet of ice, and though nearly one-fourth 
of Gen. Bate's men were barefoot they plodded their way tracked 
with blood, and arrived in time to participate in the suffering and 
defeat consequent upon the Federal attack. 

The popular report of this battle lias generally ascribed to a 
breach in Bate's division the fate of the day. But the circum- 
stances in which that breach was made have been but little 
understood, and were not of Gen. Bate's creation. As the order 
of battle was formed he repeatedly protested against the undue 
extension of his line, and remonstrated against its situation to 
liis corps commander, who informed him that "he was not 
authorized to change it." He occupied an angle beneath the 
brow of a hill ; the works were flimsy, and only protected against 
small arms, having no abattis or other obstruction to impede the 
movements of an assaulting party ; and the enemy's artillery 
fired directly across both lines composing the angle, besides 
throwing shells from another point directly in the back of one 
of the brigades. Of the extraordinary trials of this fire, and 
the disaster that ensued, Gen. Bate says, in his oflicial report : 
" The enemy was on two lines on my front, and in the afternoon 
moved by his right flank from direction of the Granny White 
Turnpike, and massed by advancing a skirmish line at a time, 
under the brow of the hill near the ' angle.' I made this known 



734 MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 

to Gen. Cheatham, by a staff officer (Lieut. Charles Rogan), and 
asked for reinforcements. The General informed me that he had 
nothing that could possibly be spared, and desired me to extend 
still further to the left, as he had to withdi-aw strength from his 
front to protect his left, which had been turned. About this 
time the brigade on the extreme left (Govan's, I understand) 
was driven back down the hill into the field in my rear, and the 
balls of the enemy were fired into the backs of and killing and 
wounding my men. The lines on the left (as you go into Nash- 
ville) of the Granny White Pike at the juncture were the three 
sides of a square, the enemy shooting across the two ^parallel lines. 
My men were falling fast. I saw and fully appreciated the 
emergency, and passed in person along the trenches near the 
angle built by Ector's brigade, where I had placed troops who I 
knew to be unsurpassed for gallantry and endurance, and 
encouraged them to maintain their place. The men saw the 
brigade on the left give way, and the enemy take their place on 
the hills in their rear ; yet they stood firm and received the fire 
from, three directions with coolness and courage. Anticipating 
a disaster, I ordered Capt. Beauregard, who commanded my 
artillery, to move his battalion back to the Franklin Turnpike, 
as the enemy already had the Granny White Pike in our rear, 
which was my channel to escape, as per order in the forenoon. 
About four o'clock, p. m., the enemy with heavy fire assaulted 
the line near the angle and carried it, at that point where Ector's 
brigade had built the light works back from the brow of the hill, 
and without obstruction, not however until the gallant and obsti- 
nate Col. Shy, and nearly half of his brave men, had fallen, 
together with the large part of the three right companies of the 
37th Georgia, which regiment constituted my extreme left. 
When the breach was made, this command — the consolidated 
fragments of the 2d, 10th, 15th, 20th, 30th, and 37th Tennessee 
Regiments — still contested the ground under Maj. Lucas. Fi- 
nall}^, when overwhelming numbers pressed them back, only 65 
of the command escaped, not as a command, but as individuals. 
The command was nearly annihilated, as the ofticial reports of 
casualties show. Whether the yielding of gallant and well- 
tried troops to such pressure is reprehensible or not, is for a brave 
and generous country to decide. The breach once made, the 



MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. T35 

lines lifted from either side as far as I could see, almost instantly, 
and fled in confusion." 

JSTo fair mind that considers this official exposition of the con- 
duct of this gallant and battle-scarred command, as connected 
with the disaster of Hood's army at l^ashville — no true and gal- 
lant soldier, who has passed through the iiery scenes of victory 
and defeat, and been alike the recipient of praise and blame, as 
his fortunes varied in the unequal struggle, can do otherwise than 
sympathize with the misfortunes of these overpowered men, and 
admire their gallantry. The surprise to the intelligent mind is, 
that a whole army should at once leave their lines of defence, 
because a breach is made at one of the salients. This is too patent 
to need more than a suggestion from the historian. The truth is, 
the preceding battle of Franklin — the dearest of all dear-bought 
victories — destroyed the morale of the array. It was so cut up 
and weakened in numbers, and in the loss of many of its best 
men and officers, that after that it had no confidence in its ability 
to cope with an adversary so superiour in numbers and appoint- 
ment. 

After the disaster of Nashville, tlie Army of Tennessee swept 
back across the Tennessee River, through North Mississippi, 
across Alabama and Georgia into Carolina, where it met its old 
commander. Gen. Joe Johnston. Under his leadership it fought 
its last battle near Bentonville, North Carolina, in March, 1865. 
In this last fight no command more distinguished itself than that 
of Gen, Bate. In the absence of Maj.-Gen. Cheatham, he com- 
manded that part of the corps (including his own division) which 
was engaged. He fought upon the extreme right of the line. His 
troops, stung by the recollections of Nashville, were not only 
precipitous, but absolutely reckless in the charge upon the works 
of the enemy, and carried all in their front in such a dashins: 
manner as to win the applause of the whole army. 

This battle, just before the surrender, terminated the military 
career of Gen. Bate, which beginning with the position of a cap- 
tain in command of a company, ended in that of a Major-General. 
After having been surrendered and paroled, the crippled and 
heart-sick warriour made his way to a plantation in Georgia, where 
he had established a home, during the war, for a number of his 
devoted negroes who had fled from the enemy's mercies in Ten- 



736 MA J. -GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 

nessee. Ho now claimed their protection and kindness. As a 
generous master be was endeared to all of them ; and as an evidence 
of the attachment of the negro, his body-servant, " Jim," had fol- 
lowed him throughout the war, and had twice borne him wounded 
from the field. The dream of the brave man's youth had vanished. 
The cause in which he enlisted every aspiration of his soul, all 
the energy of his nature, and every impulse of his ambition ; for 
which he had forsaken the comforts of home, the rapid accumula- 
tions of a large business, and the domestic attractions of a fond and 
devoted family, had perished and claimed no more the service of 
his preeminent capacity or the chivalric exercise of his enthusiastic 
patriotism. The devotion of his constant and undying love for the 
South found now no field for its exercise in the serious display of 
opposing hosts in the terrible gage of battle. Her banners all 
furled, no longer rallied to them devoted warriours. Sick and 
despondent, in the quiet and repose of his rural retreat in Georgia, 
Gen. Bate existed for a few weeks in melancholy contemplation of 
the ruin of the cause for which he and so many brave sons of the 
South had for four years labored and perilled, and which had 
passed away among the things " that were but are not." 

But such meditations were averse to his better nature. They 
did not comport with the practical direction of his mind, or the 
indomitable energy which had ever characterized him in both civil 
and military life. As soon as his wearied and crippled body had 
received the rest which so long a time in active and exciting ser- 
vice had rendered necessary, he made his way back to his own 
native Tennessee, where, among the familiar scenes of his home, 
and the associations of a people who had ever been partial to him, 
he proposed to meet the exigencies of his new existence, and lend 
his influence to a manly and dignified encounter of the situation. 

He found his homestead desolated and destroyed. The atro- 
cious spirit of the enemy could not forego the indulgence of a 
cowardly revenge upon a foeman who would have disdained to 
have fought them in any other way but to their face with his steel. 
They had destroyed his residence and laid waste his grounds, leav- 
ing no evidence of the once beautiful home, but the standing and 
charred chimneys, mute but damning monuments of the infamy of 
a cowardly Vandalism. Notwithstanding this and his many other 
misfortunes, and the fact that he was then as he is now, an unpar- 



MAJ.-GEN. WILLIAM B. BATE. 737 

doned rebel, pursued, indicted for treason, his estates libelled, and 
himself hunted by " Union men " with suits for fictitious damages 
because of his course in the war, he resolved to remain in his 
native State, and try again the fortunes of the profession of the 
law, in which he had formerly distinguished himself. Since the 
surrender, Gen. Bate has taken no part in politics. Disfranchised 
by the usurping Government of Tennessee, because of his devotion 
to a cause which he esteemed dearer than life, he awaits the sense 
of returning justice, which will do him, and the brave men who 
acted with him, the fullest vindication, and haply restore them to 
the rights of which an accidental power now deprives them. His 
intercourse with those who differ with him exhibits that manly 
independence which must always command respect, characterized 
as it is by a courtesy which attracts while it does not invite, and 
which is independent without being repulsive. Free from the 
disgusting sycophancy which so many have adopted as the best 
means to a sordid and material advantage, he pursues the even 
duties of his professional life, indifferent to the estimation of his 
enemies as he is jealous of the regard of his friends. As a soldier, 
he was brave, chivalric, energetic, and untiring ; as a citizen, he is 
conservative and dutiful ; as a husband and parent, domestic and 
affectionate; as an enemy, fierce but not ungenerous; as a lawyer, 
just to all who come within the purview of his practice; as a 
friend, free and open-handed, reserving to himself nothing in sel- 
fishness ; as a man, replete in all that constitutes the man's true 
standard. 

47 



LIEUT.-GENERAL WADE HAMPTON. 



CHAPTER LXIX. 



An Englishman's remark on the military aptitude of the Southern planter. — Wealth 
and culture of Wade Hampton. — The Hampton Legion. — Its mettle tried at Manas- 
sas. — Gen. Hampton in the campaign of 1862. — Detached enterprises against the 
enemy. — In the battle of Brandy Station. — Wounded at Gettysburg. — In the 
campaign of 1864. — Fights with Sheridan. — Trevillian Station. — Sappony Church. 
— Hampton's "beef-raid." — He joins Gon. Beauregard's command. — Operations 
against Sherman. — A severe commentary on the enemy's atrocities. — Peculiar 
compliments of the Northern Radicals to Gen. Hampton since the war. — His 
admirable speeches and advice to his countrymen. 

An Englishman recently writing on the subject of the American 
War, ingeniously remarks : " The richer planter, possessing many 
slaves dependent entirely on him in regard to food, clothing, medi- 
cine, and discipline, acquires habits of command and of organization 
highly useful to the affairs of an army. A man capable of manag- 
ing the affairs of a large plantation, and ruling his servants with 
order and regularity, has advanced far in the qualities necessary to 
make a good Colonel of a regiment." It was in this school that 
Wade Hampton of South Carolina was eminently educated — a 
school where was not only taught the art of command, but which 
inspired the best notions of chivalry, and produced an aristocracy 
haughty and narrow in some respects, but singularly pure, circum- 
spect, and aspiring. 

He was one of the richest planters in his State, owned several 
large tracts of land well stocked with negroes, and had the repu- 
tation, extending beyond his neighbourhood, of an enlightened 
and liberal agriculturist. He was born in Charleston in 1818. 
His family was among the most ancient and honoured in the history 
of South Carolina. His grandfather, Gen. Wade Hampton, was a 



LIEUT.-GEN. WADE HAMPTON. 739 

gallant officer in the Revolution which gained American Independ- 
ence, and was one of the most eminent and respected citizens of 
South Carolina, in those days. His father, Col. Wade Hampton, 
was a distinguished officer in the war of 1812, and was an aide-de- 
camp to Gen. Jackson in the memorable battle of JSTew Orleans. 

Before the war made upon the South, the subject of our sketch 
was considered one of the wealthiest men in the State of South 
Carolina. As a man and a citizen none stood above him in the 
estimation of his fellow-citizens. He had served with distinction 
in both branches of the Legislature of his State. His first wife was 
a daughter of Gen. F. P. Preston, of Virginia, and after the death 
of this estimable lad}'-, he married a daughter of the celebrated Gov. 
McDuffie, of South Carolina. He owned the greatest number of 
negroes of any gentleman in the State, and was distinguished as 
the most humane and indulgent of men in the management of his 
servants. All his surroundings were those of a gentleman of cul- 
ture and honour. His residence at Columbia, South Carolina, was 
known both in Europe and America as the abode of splendid hospi- 
tality, and as one of the most superb residences in the United 
States. 

In the first gathering of troops in Virginia to oppose the Grand 
Army of the North, a regiment of legionary formation {i. e. of the 
different arms — infantry, cavalry and artillery), commanded by Col. 
Hampton, and honourably known throughout the war as " Hamp- 
ton's Legion," was among the earliest contributions of South Caro- 
lina. In the early encampments around Eichmond it was recog- 
nized as the elite of the regiments, and obtained the best of the social 
honours that were then so profusely distributed among military 
men. Its associations were aristrocratic ; its dress-parades at Rock- 
etts, were the wonder and fashionable resort of Eichmond ; and as 
a corps of gentlemen soldiers, they were perfect in every appoint- 
ment. The munificent spirit of the commander was testified by 
the fact that out of his own private means he had contributed 
largely towards the equipment of the men. Their flag was the 
patriotic and sacred gift of the ladies of South Carolina, and in 
accepting it, the Legion had promised to defend it as long as one 
of their number remained to step the field of conflict. 

The mettle of the Legion was tried on the first field of Manassas. 
It was here that Hampton's 600 infantry held for some time the 



740 LIEUT.-GEN. WADE HAMPTON. 

Warrenton road against Kejes, and when forced back, recovered 
with " Stonewall" Jackson, and afterwards aided, as Gen. Beaure- 
gard wrote, in " restoring the fortunes of the day at a time when 
the enemy, by a last desperate onset, with heavy odds had driven 
the Confederates from the fiercely contested ground about the 
Henry House." The personal gallantry of Col. Hampton was 
noticed in all accounts of the battle. His horse was shot dead 
under him, and he was severely wounded in the head, after fighting 
some time on foot with a rifle. His Legion's first experience of 
battle was severe and bloody, and its loss counted as 110 killed and 
wounded, including among the first, Lieut.-Col. Johnston, an officer 
of brilliant promise. 

In nearly all the battles of the Peninsula, Col. Hampton was 
ever among the first in the fight. At the battle of Seven Pines, he 
lost, in killed and wounded, more than half of his command, and 
he was himself again severely wounded. After the terrible battle 
of Gaines' Mills, he was promoted to Brigadier-General of Cavalry, 
and was afterwards with Gen. Stuart in all his memorable deeds 
of daring. 

We find him, too, noticed separately for a number of detached 
enterprises of the cavalry in Virginia, during the second winter of 
the war. About the 1st December, 1862, with a detachment of 
his brigade, he crossed the Upper Kappahannock, surprised two 
squadrons of Federal cavalry, captured several commissioned offi- 
cers, and about one hundred men, with their horses, arms, colours, 
and accoutrements, without loss on his part. 

On the 11th December Gen. Hampton was again in the saddle, 
crossed the Eappahannock with a detachment of his brigade, cut 
the enemy's communications at Dumfries, entered the town a few 
hours before Sigel's corps, then marching on Fredericksburg, cap- 
tured twenty wagons with a guard of about ninety men, and 
returned safely to his camp. On the 16th December, he again 
crossed the river with a small force, proceeded to Occoquan, sur- 
prised the pickets between that place and Dumfries, captured fifty 
wagons, bringing many of them across the Occoquan in a ferry-boat, 
and beating back a brigade of cavalry sent to their rescue. He 
reached the Eappahannock with thirty wagons and 130 prisoners. 

In the reorganization of Gen. Lee's army in 1863, preparatory 
to the Pennsylvania campaign, we find Gen. Hampton assigned to 



LIEUT.-GEN. WADE HAMPTON". 741 

a brigade of cavalry, and again zealously engaged with Stuart and 
the two Lees in the operations of that year. The most important 
of the cavalry affairs of this period, was the battle of Brandy Sta- 
tion; and here Gen. Hampton again distinguished himself, and 
gave a remarkable example of valour and devotion. His command 
was composed of the 1st and 2d South Carolina, the 1st North 
Carolina, the Cobb, Jeff Davis, and Phillips Legions. In this 
bloody fight every field officer teas wounded, as he successively took 
command of the brigade- — Col. Baker of North Carolina first, then 
Col. Young, Cobb's Legion, then Col. Black, 1st South Carolina, 
and lastly Lieut.-Col. Lipscomb, 2d South Carolina. 

When Gen. Lee's army occupied Chambersburg, Gen. Hampton 
was appointed " Military Governor," and, to this day, the candid 
inhabitants of the place admit that they suffered no outrage what- 
ever at the hands of the Confederates. At the battle of Gettysburg 
Gen. Hampton was three times wounded, and so badly that he 
had for some time to be absent from his command. What were the 
perils and glories of this campaign may be judged from the fact, 
that out of twenty-three field officers in Gen. Hampton's command, 
twenty-one were killed or wounded. The statement of its losses is 
quite sufficient to prove that the cavalry were not unworthy com- 
peers of the glorious infantry of the Army of Northern Virginia, 
and that in the article of hard fighting Hampton contested the palm 
with the best of Lee's lieutenants. 

For his many brave deeds, he was promoted to the rank of 
Major-General, and shortly thereafter Lieutenant-General, and had 
command of the cavalry in Virginia after the death of Stuart. 
Thenceforth considered as Lee's master of horse, he had an import- 
ant share in the great campaign of 1 864, and obtained the most 
brilliant and valuable success of his military life. A part of 
Grant's early combination against Richmond was a movement of 
cavalry under Sheridan, to destroy Gordonsville and Charlottes- 
ville, with the railroad near these places ; then to unite with Hun- 
ter in his attack on Lynchburg ; and after the capture of that 
place, the joint forces to move to the White House on the Pa- 
munkey, from which point they would join the main Federal army 
or threaten Richmond. This imposing piece of strategy was 
brought to naught by Gen. Hampton's celerity of movement and 
vigour of action. On the 10th June, he succeeded in placing him- 



742 LIEUT.-GEK. WADE HAMPTON. 

self in front of the enemy near Trevillian's Station, on the Central 
railroad, and attacked the next morning at daybreak. In his 
official report of the action. Gen. Grant claims that, on the 11th, 
Sheridan drove the Confederate cavalry " from the field, in com- 
plete rout;" and says, when he advanced towards Gordonsville, 
on the 12th, "he found the enemy reinforced by infantry, behind 
well-constructed rifle-pits, about five miles from the latter place, 
and too strong to successfully assault." There is an absurd excess 
of falsehood in this. In fact there was not an infantry soldier in 
arms nearer the scene of action than with Gen. Lee's army, at 
Cold Harbour ; and the "well-constructed rifle-pits" were nothing 
more than rails put up in the manner in which cavalry were 
accustomed to arrange them to prevent a charge. Sheridan mis- 
took some of Hampton's cavalry, dismounted and fighting on foot, 
for infantry; he saw "infantry" "too strong to successfully 
assault;" and the statement was eagerly seized by his superiour to 
cover his shame and mortification of defeat. 

It was indeed a decisive check. Sheridan was defeated at Tre- 
villian's — was punished in the skirmishes at the White House and 
Forge Bridges, and was routed at Samaria Church. Nearly 1,000 
prisoners were taken, and from the last-named place the enemy 
was pursued within two or three miles of Charles City Court House, 
his wounded scattered over the ground upon which he had fought. 
He retreated to Wynoke Neck in order to cross the James river 
under protection of the gunboats, and Gen. Hampton, in accordance 
with instructions from Gen. Lee, moved on the 26th June to the 
pontoon bridge, with a view to cross and join the army on the 
south side of the James river. This closed his operations, which 
had for their object the defeat of Sheridan's movement in rear 
of Lee. 

He at once commenced another operation — which was to inter- 
cept Wilson, who was returning from Staunton Eiver bridge to 
rejoin Grant's army. A force of infantry and artillery having 
been placed at Eeams' Station (as the enemy would have to cross 
the railroad there — Jarrett's or Hick's Ford), Gen, Hampton 
moved out with his division to attack the enemy at a place called 
Sappony Church. Here he broke the enemy's lines, and pursued 
and fought him for several days, while Fitz Lee at Eeams' Station 
crowned the victory, and achieved a brilliant success of his own. 



LIEUT.-GEN. WADE HAMPTON. 743 

Hampton's command alone took 800 prisoners. The pursuit of 
the enemy, which ended near Peter's bridge, closed the active oper- 
ations which commenced on the 8th June, when the movement 
against Sheridan began. The history of these few weeks is thus 
officially related by Gen. Hampton: "During this time — a period 
of twenty-three days — the command had no rest, was badly sup- 
plied with rations and forage — marched upwards of 400 miles — 
fought the greater portion of six days and one entire night — cap- 
tured upwards of 2,000 prisoners, many guns, small arms, wagons, 
horses, and other material of war, and was completely successful in 
defeating two of the most formidable and well-organized expedi- 
tions of the enemy. This was accomplished at a cost, in my divi- 
sion, of 719 killed, wounded and missing. The men have borne 
their privations with perfect cheerfulness ; they have fought admi- 
rably, and I wish to express, before closing my reports, not only 
my thanks to them for their good conduct, but my pride at having 
had the honour to command them." 

Perhaps Gen. Hampton's most grateful enterprise in Gen. Lee's 
army was the famous " beef raid," in which he made a consider- 
able and most timel}^ addition to the Confederate commissariat. On 
the 16th September he got in Grant's rear, east of City Point, and 
drove off 2,500 beeves and 400 prisoners. It was a joke well 
relished in an army of half starved soldiers, and a most substantial 
comfort. A Kichmond journal made the following savoury and 
satisfactory calculation of the prize : " The Federal commissaries 
buy beeves of the largest size for the use of their armies in Virginia, 
The expense and trouble of transportation, which are in proportion 
to numbers, make this very expedient. The beeves taken in 
Hampton's late expedition are judged, by a Loudon grazier, to 
weigh 800 pounds net, 2,486 beeves at 800 pounds, would make 
an aggregate of 1,988,800 pounds, or within a fraction of 2,000,000 
pounds. This, distributed in daily rations of a pound each, would 
feed 1,000 men for nearly 2,000 days, 10,000 men for 200 days, or 
50,000 for 40 days, and so forth." 

On the march of Sherman's army through South Carolina, 
Gen. Hampton was detached from Lee's immediate command to 
join the forces then under Gen. Beauregard. Here he had no 
opportunities for distinguished service, and could scarcely do 
more than harass the enemy as he advanced, and punish the 



744 LIEUT.-GKN. WADE HAMPTON. 

murdering and marauding cavalry of Kilpatrick. This latter he 
did very effectually ; once surprising Kilpatrick's camp and caus- 
ing the valorous commander to take hasty flight, with no other 
garment on but his shirt. But his reduced command could do 
little to restrain the outrages of Sherman's main army, and his 
sensibilities were lacerated by scenes of which he and his men 
were compelled to be almost helpless spectators. He was ordered 
to leave Columbia without a light, and he was compelled to 
abandon his own home there to the torch of the enemy, whose 
cowardly ferocity spared not even the abode of hospitality, 
refinement, luxury, and art. Outrages multiplied. When 
Sherman's army, not glutted with the vengeance and spoil of 
Columbia, marched northward to Charlotte, it was preceded by 
a gang of men called " bummers," who robbed, plundered, and 
murdered with impunity. Worse villains never went unhung. 
Some of these Sherman said had been killed after capture ; and 
he wrote to Gen. Hampton a very characteristic letter, stating 
that he would hang man for man. Gen. Hampton replied that 
he knew nothing of the killing of any of his " foragers," as he 
called them ; but he gave hini fair notice, that if lie hung a 
single Confederate soldier, he would hang two Federals ; further- 
more, he told Gen. Sherman that he had directed his men to 
shoot down any soldier found burning houses, and that he should 
continue to do this as long as he (Sherman) disgraced the profes- 
sion of arms by destroying private dwellings. "Your line of 
march," said Gen. Hampton, "can be traced by the lurid light 
of burning houses ; and in more than one household there is an 
agony far rtiore hitter than death — a crime too black to be men- 
tioned." In outrages such as this the war found its fitting con- 
clusion ; and the chivalric and honourable protest of such men 
as Gen. Hampton was scarcely heard in the midst of the gen- 
eral ruin, was almost unnoticed in the boast and clamour of the 
enemy's success, and is on record now only for the purposes of 
history. 

Since the war, Gen. Hampton has been much more conspicu- 
ous than the majority of his cornpanions-in-arms, and his name 
has had a singular importance attached to it. There appears to 
have been a remarkable consent on the part of the Radical press 
and politicians of the North to accept him as a representative 



LIEUT.-GEN. WADE HAMPTON". 745 

of a class, and to express in Lis name that sentiment in the South 
which, surviving the war, insists yet upon the honour of its pros- 
trate cause, and pleads for a tender and reverential memory of 
its past. It is the sentiment, in fact, which whilo submitting to 
the proper arbitration of the sword, disdains any confession of 
dishonour or exhibition of shame in the matter; and reasserting 
its rights and interests in a restored Constitution, refuses to take 
the position of the vanquished, and to be punished at the discre- 
tion of the conqueror. It has been common in Northern journals 
to describe the class holding this sentiment as " the Wade Hamp- 
tons of the South," and to put the name in antithesis to the 
modern self-styled faction of " Loyalists." It is an extraordi- 
nary compliment to the noble South Carolinian. It is in this 
view that all his political opinions since the war have been 
quoted with importance, and have had a large circulation through 
the press. These opinions, indeed, constitute not the least inter- 
esting part of his life, and indicate, we trust, future additions to 
his influence and fame. 

On the close of the war there were many Southerners who, 
in the first bitterness of their disappointment and defeat, were 
disposed to abandon their land, and to organize schemes of emi- 
gration to foreio^n countries. In one of these schemes which 
proposed a refuge and colony in Brazil, Gen. Hampton was 
designated as leader and conductor of the enterprise. But he 
not only discouraged it, but rebuked it very nobly, and so effectu- 
ally, that it was almost entirely abandoned by those who were 
first active in its advocacy. He published a letter in reply to 
inquiries addressed to him by persons who proposed to emigrate. 
He dissuaded his correspondents from any general emigration ; 
advised them to remain at home and devote their energies to 
the restoration of law and order, the reestablishment of agricul- 
ture and commerce, the promotion of education, and the rebuild- 
ing of the dwellings and cities which have been laid in ashes. 
To accomplish these objects he urged that " all who can do so 
should take the oath of allegiance to the United States Govern- 
ment, so that they may participate in the restoration of civil 
government to our State. A distinguished citizen of our State," 
he wrote, " an honest man, and a true patriot, has been appointed 
Governor. He will soon call a convention of the people which 



746 LIEUT.-GEN. WADE HAMPTON. 

will be charged with the most vital interests of our State." He 
nrsred that the deleo::ates elected to this convention should be men 
" who had laid their all upon the altar of their country." He 
himself should pursue the course which he recommended to 
others, " devoting himself earnestly, if permitted to do so, to the 
discharge of these obligations, public and private ; " but in the 
mean time he should obtain all the information desirable in the 
establishment of a colony, in case they were obliged to leave the 
country. 

These statements were written at the time when the Radical 
party of the North had not yet fully disclosed its programme of 
striking down the State institutions, Africanizing the South, and 
when there was some hope of the resoration of civil government, 
and the erection of some measures of liberty and order on the 
ruins of the war. At a subsequent period, when the policy of 
this party was more fully declared. Gen. Hampton addressed his 
countrymen on the darkened political prospect of the South, 
with reference to her new articles of policy and duty. 

In a speech delivered at Wallahalla, South Carolina, in the 
autumn of 1866, he treated of the recent war, the terms upon 
which the South had capitulated, and the future policy of the 
South. " It is full time," he said, " that some voice from the 
South should be raised to declare that, though conquered, she is 
not humiliated ; that though she submits, she is not degraded ; 
that she has not lost her self-respect, that she has not laid down 
her arms on dishonourable terms ; that she has observed these 
terms with the most perfect faith, and that she has a right to 
demand the like observance of them on the part of the North." 
He declared that the South had become loyal in the true accept- 
ation of the word ; that she had fulfilled her part of the peace 
compact, and in every way observed her obligations since the 
close of the war. 

Concerning the policy of the South, he said : " In the anoma- 
lous condition in which we are placed, it is a matter of great 
difficulty to mark out the proper course for us to pursue ; but 
there are certain cardinal principles of which we should never 
lose sight. The first of them is, that as we accepted the terms of 
the North in good faith, we are bound by every dictate of honour 
to abide by them fully and honestly. They are none the less 



LIEUT.-GEN. WADE HAMPTON. 747 

binding on us because the dominant and unscrupulous party of 
the North refuse to accede to us our just rights. Let us, at least, 
prove ourselves worthy of the rights we claim ; let us set an 
example of good faith, and we can then appeal with double 
effect to the justice and magnanimity of the North." 

Of the abolition of slavery, he said : " Of all the inconsist- 
encies of which the North has been guilty — and their name is 
legion — none is greater than that by which she forced the South- 
ern States, while rigidly excluding them from the Union, to ratify 
the constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, which they 
could do legally only as States of the Union. But the deed has 
been done ; and I, for one, do honestly declare, that I never wish 
to see it revoked. Nor do I believe that the people of the South 
would now remand the negro to slavery if they had the power 
to do so unquestioned." 

In conclusion, he urged that the people of the South should 
fulfil to the letter all obligations they had entered into, keeping 
their faith so clear that no shadow of dishonour could fall upon 
them ; that they should sustain President Johnson cordially in 
his policy, giving their support to that party which rallied 
around him ; that they should render full obedience to the laws 
of the land, reserving to themselves, at the same time, the inalien- 
able right of freedom of speech and of opinion ; and that as to 
the great question which so materially affected their interests — • 
the abolition of slavery — they should declare it settled for ever. 



LIEUT.-GEN. NATHANIEL B. FOEREST. 



CHAPTER LXX. 



Peculiarities of the Western tlieatre of the war. — Forrest, "the Great Cavalryman of 
the West." — Nathaniel B. Forrest, his parentage and early life. — Enters the army as 
a private. — His escape from Fort Doiielson. — His expedition into West Tennes- 
see. — Pursuit and capture of Streight's command in Georgia. — The field of Chicka- 
mauga, — Gen. Forrest leaves tlie Army of Tennessee.— His career in Mississippi. — 
Victory of Oliolona. — The dramatic story of Fort Pillow. — Victory of Tishamingo 
Creek. — Gen. Forrest rejoins the Army of Tennessee. — His last affair with the 
enemy at Selma. — The wonder and romance of his career. — A remarkable theory 
of cavalry service. — His extraordinary prowess in the war, and deeds of blood. 

During the whole course of the war, a contrast was observed 
between the fortunes of the Confederate army operating in Vir- 
ginia and those of what was popularly known as the Army of the 
AVest, traversing the varied and intricate theatre extending from 
the Alleghany Mountains to the Mississippi River. While victory 
was the usual incident of the former, the career of the latter may 
be described as unequal : a chequer of light and shade ; brilliant 
victories converted into defeats, followed by disasters, chased by 
the shadows of misfortune. Indeed, the history of the Army of 
the West appears to have been impressed by a premonition and 
augury in the extraordinary fate of its first great commander, 
Albert Sidney Johnston, who fell in the effulgence of success on 
its first great field, quickly overcast by the shadow of disaster, 
and who poured out his life-blood on the boundary of fortune, 
between the victory of the day and the defeat of the morrow. 

But to this rule of contrast between the Army of Virginia and 



LIEUT.-GEN. N. B. FORREST. 749 

that of the "West there is a marked exception. It is to be found 
in the cavalry service of the latter. This arm in the "West habit- 
ually wore the wreath of victory ; its general condition was that 
of success ; its achievements constituted the most brilliant and 
constant pages in the unequal and diversified record of the war 
west of the Alleghany Mountains. While in the Army of the 
"West there was perhaps no group equal to Lee's infantry lieuten- 
ants, it may be said that the deeds of the cavalry commanders of 
the latter — Stuart, Ashby, and the Lees — were more than matched 
by the exploits of such men as Morgan, Wheeler, Stephen D. Lee, 
and last, but not least, the incomparable Forrest, distinguished, 
even in this assembly of admirable names, as " the Great Cav- 
alryman of the West." Ilis military life was thick with incident, 
his path of victory traversed many important fields, and his career 
occupied the whole space and action of the war in the West. 

Nathaniel Bedford Forrest was born on the 13th July, 1821, 
at the little village of Chapel Hill, in Bedford County, Tennes- 
see. His family, on the paternal side, emigrated from Virginia 
to North Carolina some twenty or thirty years before the Revo- 
lution of 17TG, and every male member of it, capable of bear- 
ing arms, was a soldier of liberty in that war. In 1834, the 
subject of our sketch removed with his father, William Forrest, 
to the State of Mississippi; and shortl}'- after this event, his 
father dying, he found his mother and a large family of young 
children, his brothers and sisters, dependent upon him solely for 
support. In this emergency his only resource was a small farm 
in Marshall County ; but so well did he work it, and such was 
his energy, that in a few years he found himself successful, and 
able to make ample provision for all of the numerous and help- 
less family that looked to him for support. His education under 
these circumstances could not but be neglected. Having suc- 
ceeded as a farmer, he removed to Hernando. Mississippi, in 
1841, and engaged in business as mail contractor and proprie- 
tor of a livery stable. He continued to make money, and, in 
1852, he changed his residence to Memphis, Tennessee, and 
established himself there in the joint business of real-estate 
broker and negro trader. At the end of five or six years he had 
amassed a handsome fortune, purchased a plantation in the Mis- 
sissippi Bottom, and, at the time, of the breaking out of the war, 



75ft LIEUT.-GEN. N. B. FORREST. 

was a large and influential planter, producing an annual crop of 
about 1,000 bales of cotton, and grain in proportion. 

He entered the war as a private soldier ; but soon obtained 
authority to raise a regiment of cavalry. He visited Kentucky, 
to procure arnas and equipments, and, having also obtained 
several hundred recruits there, he returned to Memphis, and 
organized a battalion of eight companies, with which he rej)aired 
to the army, commanded by Gen. A. Sidney Johnston. From 
this time his career commenced, continued to the last moment of 
hostilities, and traversed the whole theatre of the war in the West. 

At the battle of Fort Donelson, Forrest commanded with dis- 
tinguished gallantry a regiment of cavalry, raised principally in 
West Tennessee and in North Alabama. After a bloody struggle 
against overwhelming odds, for three or four days, it was thought 
a matter of imperative necessity to surrender the brave garrison. 
In the council of war which discussed this necessity, there occurred 
a remarkable incident, of the authenticity of which the writer has 
various proofs. Col. Forrest had been instructed by Gen. Pillow, 
for some reasons, to examine the condition of a road running near 
the river bank, and between the enemy's right and the river, and 
also to ascertain the position of the enemy. From this examina- 
tion, and from information obtained from a citizen living on the 
road, Col. Forrest made the discovery that the water was only 
about to the saddle-skirts, although the mud was about half-leg 
deep in the bottom where it had been overflowed. The bottom 
was about a quarter of a mile wide, and the water then about 100 
yards wide. The enemy, as descried by his camp fires, remained 
in the distance ; while the Confederate council of war, in the 
dead hours of night, was considering the sorrowful necessity of 
surrender, a courier announced an officer, who desired admit- 
tance. The door was opened, and Col. Forrest, all splashed 
with mud and water, with high-topped boots and an old slouched 
hat, made his appearance. He walked to the fire-place and 
seated himself sullenly, without saying a word. After a few 
moments Gen. Floyd said : "Well Colonel, have you anything 
important to communicate, that you come here at this late 
hour; or has your curiosity led you to pay us tliis visit, in 
order to find out what we have decided upon ? " " Both," 
replied Forrest, dryly ; then rising from his chair with animation, 



LIEUT -GEN. N. B. FORREST. 751 

he said: "But is it possible, gentlemen, as I have already heard 
whispered this night, that you intend to surrender?" "Yes," was 
the reply; "we have just arrived at that conclusion." "But," 
said Forrest, "there is no occasion for it. The river is not waist- 
deep where we can cross. The scouts who reported that the river 
could not be forded told you a d — d lie. For myself I intend to 
go out, if I save but one man. Have I your permission, gentlemen, 
to take my regiment out ? " Gen. Buckner nodded his assent, and 
Gen. Pillow said, briefly : " Cut your way out." But it proved no 
such desperate undertaking ; the sequel was that Forrest's regi- 
ment escaped without the loss of a man, while the bulk of the 
Confederate army remained to surrender, in the full belief of its 
superiour officers that all exit was closed, or on the supposition that 
it could not be moved from its intrenchments without being seen by 
the enemy and followed and cut to pieces. This last supposition may 
have been, in a measure, correct ; but that there was an exit not 
known or covered by the enemy, the adventure of Col. Forrest 
fully demonstrated to his own satisfaction and safety. 

He afterwards attended Gen. A. S. Johnston in his retreat to 
the Tennessee River, and participated in the battle of Shiloh, where 
he rendered signal service, and was severely wounded. After this 
fitful battle there was a fearful decline in the fortunes of the West. 
Gen. Beauregard was compelled to fall back before the superiour 
forces of Halleck ; the whole of Middle Tennessee passed into the 
possession of the Federal army, every town of importance and 
every railroad station being guarded by strong and effective gar- 
risons, and the entire South-west seemed about to be lost to the 
Confederacy. It was about this time that Col. Forrest commenced 
his important career, starting equally with Morgan, and on a cor- 
respondent expedition, with the same general design of weakening 
the main armies of the enemy, by creating a necessity for strong 
guards for their communications. When Morgan made his first 
famous incursion into Kentucky, to operate on the communica- 
tions of Gen. Grant's army in Mississippi, Forrest marched with a 
cavalry force to operate on those of Gen. Rosecrans in Tennessee. 
Both of the expeditions were successful, and dated the reputation 
of two of the most remarkable men in the Western armies. For- 
rest, having crossed the Tennessee river at Chattanooga, com- 
menced with the capture of McMinnville, surprised the garrison 



752 LIEUT.-GEN. N. B. FORREST. 

of Murfreesboro, taking prisoner the Federal General Crittenden, 
and venturing to attack here a brigade of 2,000 infantry, with one- 
half of that number of poorly mounted horsemen, he killed, 
wounded and captured the entire force, Muth its artillery and sup- 
plies. It was a blow which shook the imagination of the enemy, 
gave new confidence to the country that had fallen within the Fed- 
eral lines, and cheered the Confederate army at Tupelo in their 
laborious drills and preparations for the coming campaign. 

When Gen. Bragg's columns advanced from Chattanooga 
towards Kentucky, Forrest, who had obtained his promotion as 
Brigadier-General, was sent again to Middle Tennessee, to hang 
upon Buell's flanks, and gain information concerning his move- 
ments. The details of this and similar service during the Ken- 
tucky campaign, until Bragg's army accomplished its retreat and 
went into winter-quarters at Murfreesboro, while the Federals 
encamped quietly around ISTashville, were of one description — con- 
stant and harassing activity. The whole front of the Confederate 
army was covered by Forrest's cavalry, and continual engage- 
ments were fought between them and detachments of the Federal 
army ; sometimes occasioned by the former advancing from their 
encampments and attacking posts far in the rear of the main body 
of the enemy's forces ; sometimes by the latter endeavouring to 
find a weak place in the Confederate line, and coming in contact 
with detached bodies guarding the rails and roads to the South. 

It is not necessary to go through a tedious narration of these 
partial engagements, although they were sometimes dignified in the 
newspapers by the name of battles. A brilliant field awaited For- 
rest, and made him in one day the popular hero of the "West. In 
the early months of 1863, the Federal commanders inaugurated 
their policy of " raiding " over the South, for the purpose of destroy- 
ing manufactories, arsenals and depots, devoting picked commands 
to this service, whose missions were to destroy — and destroy until 
they were overpowered and captured. Having this object in view, 
Col. Streight had disembarked a select brigade in the neighbour- 
hood of Tuscumbia, Alabama; but Forrest, suspecting his inten- 
tion, had marched rapidly with a force of 1,500 men to the Ten- 
nessee Eiver. Streight had taken the direction of Rome, Georgia, 
through North Alabama, and was already many miles the start of 
Forrest, who immediately began pursuit. After forty-eight hours 



LIEUT.-GEN. N. B. FORREST. 753 

of tremendous riding, which broke down half his horses, he over- 
took the Federal rear-guard on the mountains, and drove it upon 
their main column. The weary raiders had but little rest from 
that time ; for, though they rode hard, night and day, their sleep- 
less and untiring pursuers kept upon their heels, dealing wounds 
and death among them, until the spires of Eome were almost visi- 
ble in the distance. Streight was brought to bay, and compelled, 
for his safety, to halt and make his dispositions for battle. Forrest 
immediately and peremptorily demanded his surrender, and the 
perplexed raider, believing himself threatened by a superiour force, 
yielded to the necessity of the case, and delivered up his sword in 
sight of the rich prize that he had hoped to gain. He must have 
been somewhat mortified when he found that 1,600 men had 
stacked their arms to less than 600. It was said that he declined 
the first summons to surrender ; but when he stood face to face 
with Forrest, and heard the summons repeated in his peculiar 
voice, and looked into the fierce gray eye, that expressed no hesi- 
tation, his heart failed him, and he bowed to the greater spirit. 
Forrest described his exploit as " an excellent game of bluff." 
Some of Streight's men, speaking of the affair, well said : " When 
they agreed to surrender they found him without force; when they 
fought him, he was a host." 

The capture of Streight's command was an important success, 
as it probably saved not only the manufactures of Eome, but those 
of Atlanta and Macon, and indeed every magazine and arsenal 
upon which the armies of the West depended. The country was 
not at all prepared to defend itself against the sudden attack of a 
brigade of bold raiders ; there were then no militia organizations 
for home defense ; there were no arms for the squads who could 
assemble to repel a raid ; and it was impossible to have protected 
the country by sending detachments from a distant army. The 
emergency had been great, and Forrest had been equal to it. The 
entire community of the little town of E-ome turned out to wel- 
come him as their deliverer. A witness of his triumphal entry 
into the town, says : " Beautiful girls strewed his way with flowers, 
sought to kiss his lips, and lavished their caresses upon him. 
When he dismounted, and entered a parlour for rest, he fell imme- 
diately asleep amid a cluster of fair ones, for sleep had not visited 

his eyes for the previous five days and nights." Forrest was no 

48 



754 LIEUT.-GEN. N. B. FORREST. 

stranger to these patriotic endearments ; and he valued the admir- 
ation of women as the better half of his fame. He not only had 
the exceeding courage that wins the smiles of the fair, but he had 
also that characteristic purity of soul that regards woman not as a 
toy of leisure or the object of a coarse passion, but as the best 
judge of heroic deeds, the justest arbiter of a contested cause, 
holding the purest court of virtue and honour on earth, dispensing 
the best prizes of fame, and commanding the aspirations of all noble 
and ideal ambition. 

The death of Van Dorn placed Forrest in command of the 
whole cavalry corps of the Army of Tennessee. In the battle of 
Chickamauga, his command, occupying the extreme right of Bragg's 
line of battle, dismounted and fought with the stubbornness of 
infantry, and his guns fired the first and the last shot in the action. 
Gen. Forrest was for pursuing the enemy into Chattanooga, and 
capturing everything on the south bank of the Tennessee ; but the 
Commanding General did not respond to his ardour, and refused to 
advance his infantry. Other occasions of disagreement and dis- 
pleasure took place between Gen. Bragg and his subordinate; there 
were reports of jealousy and intrigue ; and Gen. Forrest, whose 
resentment was quick, tendered his resignation. The War Depart- 
ment, however, could not dispense with the services of so valuable 
a soldier as Forrest was, and, therefore, his resignation was not 
accepted, but he was transferred to North Mississippi, at his own 
request. Two or three weeks before the battle of Missionary 
Eidge, he turned his back upon the army with which he had fought 
so long, and with a single battery of artillery, and a single battalion 
of cavalry, started for Mississippi. 

He was forced back, as it were, to the commencement of a new 
career. He was beset by extraordinary difficulties. He was with- 
out men or money, arms or assistance, and at least 20,000 well 
equipped Federal troops were stationed at Memphis, and along the 
line of the Tennessee River. He was obliged, in order to oppose 
any resistance, even to foraging parties, first to raise, organize, and 
arm a force. It was a severe task, and an almost hopeless pros- 
pect ; but nothing was impossible to this man of unbounded 
energy and iron will ; his genius could not remain in obscurity, 
and his reputation was soon again ascending. 

Early in the spring of 1864, Sherman commenced his grand 



LIEUT.-GEN. N. B. FORREST. 755 

raid from Vicksburg through the State of Mississippi ; and a corps 
of 7,000 cavalry and ten pieces of artillery marched southward 
from Memphis, under Grierson, for the purpose of effecting a junc- 
tion with Sherman, This junction would have produced the most 
disastrous consequences to the South ; but Forrest threw himself 
upon Grierson's path, and attacked him on the plains of Okolona 
with 1,700 men. The Federal cavalry, loaded down with booty, 
were unable to withstand the fierce onset which Forrest, at the 
head of his squadrons, made upon them, and at the first charge 
broke and fled to Memphis, leaving their artillery, their dead and 
wounded, and many prisoners, in the hands of the victors. 

The results of this action were much greater than the mere 
defeat of Grierson, and the capture of his artillery. It not only 
sent Grierson back to his base, but it forced Sherman to retrace 
his steps very hastily to Yicksburg; for, without his expected 
force of cavalry, his situation was becoming precarious. It saved 
the State of Mississippi from rapine and plunder, and in all prob- 
ability shielded the city of Mobile from the threatened attack. 

Shortly after this victory, in his successful expedition to Padu- 
cah, Gen. Forrest appeared before Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi 
Eiver, garrisoned with negro troops, and demanded its surrender. 
The story of the capture of this place is a contested page in the 
history of the war; the enemy has entitled it "the Fort Pillow 
Massacre," and by an array of the testimony of fugitive negroes 
and the devices of popular sensation, has sought to impose upon 
the world a picture of insensate butchery and fiendish destruction, 
for what was indeed a legitimate triumph of arms, and a just inci- 
dent of war. It has been said that negro soldiers were shot down, 
when they screamed for " quarter," that many were buried alive, 
crucified, tortured, burned, or disposed of by other devilish instru- 
ments of pain. The facts are these: When Gen. Forrest first 
demanded the surrender of the fort, his main line was within the 
average distance of one hundred yards of it, and was in a position 
that would enable him to take the fort with less loss than to have 
withdrawn under fire. This must have been apparent to the gar- 
rison, and it is to be supposed that their surrender would have 
been conceded, but for an idea that if the fortifications were car- 
ried they might gain the protection of the Federal gunboats in the 
river. It was this delusion that cost so many lives. When the 



750 LIEUT. GEN. N. B. FORREST. 

first summons to surrender was made, Gen. Forrest himself rode 
up to where the notes were received and delivered. An answer 
was handed him, written in pencil, on a slip of paper without 
envelope, in these strange words : " Negotiations will not attain 
the desired object." As the officers who were in charge of the 
Federal flag-of-truce had expressed a doubt of the presence of 
Gen, Forrest, and had pronounced the demand for surrender a trick, 
he came forward and said, in brief, determined words: "I am 
General Forrest. Go back, and say to Major Booth that I demand, 
within twenty minutes, an answer, in plain English : Will he fight 
or surrender ? " As the twenty minutes were passing, the foremost 
gunboat on the river rapidly approached the fort. Gen, Forrest sat 
on his horse, steadily regarding what was taking place, waited five 
minutes beyond the expiration of the time allowed for surrender, 
and then ordered the bugles to sound the charge. The men carried 
the works without a perceptible halt in any part of the lines. The 
enemy retreated towards the river, arms in hand, and firing back ; 
the garrison flag was still flying; it was evidently the expectation 
of the fugitives that the gunboats would shell the Confederates 
away from the bluff and protect them until they could be taken 
off or reinforced. This expectation was the fatal mistake. As 
they descended the bank, an enfilading and deadly fire was poured 
into them, at a distance varying from thirty to one hundred yards. 
Fortunately for those who survived this short but desperate strug- 
gle, some of Forrest's own men cut off the halyards, and the Fed- 
eral flag, floating from a tall mast in the centre of the fort, came 
down. When the flag descended the firing ceased. Another vol- 
ley would scarcely have left a survivor unhurt in the panic-stricken 
mass of fugitives. As it was, many rushed into the river and 
were drowned, and the turbid waters of the Mississippi showed 
stains of blood for more than a hundred yards. In less than 
twenty minutes from the time the bugles sounded the charge, 
firing had ceased, and the work was done. It was a terrible work 
of slaughter ; but one which the enemy provoked, which was exe- 
cuted upon men with their flag flying over their heads, and which 
they had had plain and repeated opportunity to avoid by the usual 
and honourable methods of surrender.* 

* Gen. Forrest prepared a fall history of the whole siege and capture of Fort 
rillow, in reply to the newspaper charge of a "massacre," and sent it to Gen. C. C. 



LIEUT.-GEN. N. B. FORREST. 757 

After this expedition was ended, Forrest had started for Middle 
Tennessee, but receiving intelligence at luka that a column of 
7,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry, and twenty pieces of artillery, had 
set out from Memphis, under the command of Gens. Sturgis and 
Smith, he was compelled to turn back, and give his undivided 
attention to this column. He moved directly upon the enemy's 
line of march, and encountered him on Tishamingo Creek, with 
not quite 5,000 cavalry. His dispositions for battle were quickly 
made, and before the astonished Federals were aware of their dan- 
ger, they were vigorously attacked, both in front and in rear, and 
thrown into complete disorder, while Forrest's nine pieces of artil- 
lery poured rapid and murderous charges of canister into their 
ranks, at the short distance of sixty paces. In less than an hour 
Sturgis was utterly routed, with the loss of all his artillery, his 
entire train, and more than 5,000 of his men killed, wounded and 
captured ; the remnant scattered over the woods, and made their 
way to Memphis, though pursued for forty miles. 

The campaign projected after the fall of Atlanta recalled For- 
rest to the Army of Tennessee, and he marked his path of return 
to it with fire and sword. At Johnsonville, on the Tennessee 
River, he burned gunboats and barges, and millions of stores 
which had been collected there for Sherman's army, and immedi- 
ately joined the army of Gen. Hood at Florence. He came back 
to it with a greatly enlarged fame, and after a wondrous sum of 
exploits. A year before he had left with a single battalion to try 
his fortune in Mississippi ; he had raised, and armed, and equipped 
a gallant command, without a mite of assistance from the Govern- 
ment; he had kept at bay a force of 30,000 Federal troops, who 
had often essayed to break down his barrier of steel, and were as 
often baffled; he had put 17,000 of the enemy '■'■hors de combat j^"* 
he had captured and sent to the rear sixty pieces of artillery ; and 
had destroyed thirty millions of Federal property. He moved in 
advance of Hood, and chased the enemy's cavalry to their infantry 
lines ; and after the disaster at Nashville, his enduring courage in 
covering the retreat of the broken army, after the retirement of 
Gen. S. D. Lee, who had kept the enemy at bay in its first stages, 
probably saved it from destruction. 

Washburne at Memphis ; but so far as we are advised, not only was it not published. 
but he was never given the benefit of a brave soldier's disclaimer. 



T58 LIEUT.-GEN. N. B. FORREST. 

The infantry heaving been transported bj rail to the Carolinas, 
Forrest was left to guard a long line of frontier, reaching from De- 
catur, Alabama, to the Mississippi Eiver; an almost impossible 
task, as the enemy was threatening every assailable point. In 
the spring of 1865, a heavy force of cavalry and mounted infantry, 
under Wilson, made a descent into Alabama, and marched rap- 
idly in the direction of Selma. Forrest sent orders to his scat- 
■ tered commands, requiring them to concentrate as rapidly as pos- 
sible upon Selma, and started with his escort, ahead of any com- 
mand. His orders for a concentration of his forces were delayed 
by various causes, and the enemy attacking Selma, were opposed 
by a small force of less than YOO men. After a desperate strug- 
gle, Forrest was driven out of the town by the overwhelming odds 
of the enemy, and forced to retire. 

This ended his list of hard-fought fields ; for soon after came the 
melancholy tidings of the surrender of the Armies of Virginia and 
Tennessee ; and Lieut.-Gen. Forrest laid down his arms when, as 
be declared, "further resistance would have been madness and 
folly." He has, since the return of peace, resided in Memphis, 
engaged in business there as a commission merchant — " the lion " 
of a city that has in its population at the present time more curi- 
osities and contrasts than any other of equal size in America. 

In appearance Gen. Forrest is a remarkable man; a perfect 
model of human symmetry and strength, with an endurance, it was 
said, that could wear out any trooper that served under him. 
He is about six feet high ; his dark, piercing, hazel-eyes are full 
of expression, scintillating when excited, and at times playing with 
a passionate vengeance terrible to behold. The iron-gray hair 
covers a brain of wonderful breadth ; the finely -cut features 
betoken native cultivation ; the lithe form indicates great physical 
power and activity. He can have, too, his gentle moods, when 
the clear metallic voice that so often rang out the battle-charge 
sinks to tones of winning tenderness, and pleads the cause of the 
affections. 

His military career was a succession of brilliant victories, the 
details of which would make a volume of romance. By no manner 
of means a favourite of commanding Generals, or of the govern- 
ment — for he was jealous and sullen under authority, and some- 
times had fierce fits of obstinacy — he extorted their applause, and 



LIEUT.-GEN. N. B. FORREST. 759 

wrenched commission after commission from tlieir unwilling hands, 
until he had won the wreath of Lieutenant-General, which had 
never been bestowed upon any other than regularly educated West 
Point soldiers. Without the advantages of learning, he exhib- 
ited a remarkable originality in the conduct of the war, and was 
the practical author of one of the most important reforms in the 
service. It was this uneducated man who, above all others, 
divined the true uses of cavalry in the war, and gave it a new and 
terrible power. The improvements in modern warfare may be said 
to have annihilated the uses of cavalry as an arm of attack to be 
employed against infantry formations. Six hundred Scots Greys 
rode against the Russian rifles at Balaklava, and of that gallant 
corps onl}'- one hundred and sixty returned from the charge. The 
infantry line, or square, engages the cavalry column of attack as 
far as it can be distinctly descried, and it is annihilated before it 
has reached the point-blank range of the smooth-bore musket. 
This important fact was fully recognized and acted upon by Forrest, 
and he aimed to make his mounted troops a body of swift infantry 
centaurs. The immemorial sabre was almost entirely discarded, 
and the long-range carbine, or rifle, and navy revolver, usurped its 
place. It was this change that confounded the enemy, converted 
the operations of Forrest's cavalry from mere raids to more impor- 
tant service, and made it a practicable and formidable arm on the 
regular field of battle. 

Gen. Forrest had none of that polish which the popular imagi- 
nation usually ascribes to the chivalric hero. His education was 
wofully deficient, and his extreme illiterate condition almost sur- 
passes belief He was the coarse Western man, ungrammatical 
whenever he opened his mouth, guilty of slang and solecism, but 
full of the generous fire of conflict, alive with every instinct of 
chivalry, and with an enthusiasm as simple as that of a boy. He 
had an immense brain ; he was named by a distinguished Confed- 
erate General as the most wonderful man of the war, next to 
StonewallJackson ; he was quite as peripatetic; he fought through 
four States in the war ; and his quickness of movement and strike 
in battle gained for him the title of " War Eagle of the West." 
Forrest never refused an open fight ; he disdained ambuscades and 
surprises ; his orders against guerillas who might stray from his 
command to such dishonourable service, were even more severe 



760 LIEUT. -GEN. N. B. FORREST. 

than those of the enemy. He once offered a reward for the appre- 
hension of a step-brother, because of his reported unauthorized 
depredations as a guerilla. Fair-play was the jewel of the man. 
When in the last periods of the war, Wilson, with a largely supe- 
riour force, chose to harass and weaken him without a battle, 
Forrest, tired of the game of strategy, sent him word : " If you 
will come out, I'll give you a fair Jield^ and a square fight, the 
longest pole to take the persimmon." In this coarse language there 
is yet something severely and undeniably chivalric. 

His prowess in the war was almost marvellous. He was 
wounded four times and had twenty-nine horses shot under him. 
He is reported to have said — "I have with my own hand killed a 
man for every horse I lost in the war, and I was a horse ahead at 
its close. At Selma, I killed two Yankees, and jumped my horse 
over a wagon, and got away. My provost-marshal's book will 
show that I have taken 31,000 prisoners during the war! " The 
Great Cavalryman " fought for blood." Simple in his conversation, 
sometimes as full of boisterous humour as a school-boy when relat- 
ing his exploits, he was yet volcanic in his wrath, and in the 
gloom of his aroused passions his dearest friends dared not ap- 
proach him. There is something terrible in such a character, and 
yet sublime, when the passions are intelligent and not merely 
exhibitions of temper. Forrest was the incarnation of vengeance 
in the war, but there was not a trait of personal malice in his 
record. He was the fierce combatant for the cause of right, the 
champion with the vizor up, and the blazing countenance fighting 
to the point of death. His passions were the inspirations of a great 
contest, not the fume of low personal animosities. The great 
events of 1861 found him leading an obscure and amiable life, 
called out an unconscious greatness, touched a hidden enthusiasm, 
and suddenly raised from this simple man the apparition of a 
new glory and a new flame in the war. 



LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 



CHAPTER LXXI. 

Early military life of E. Kirby Smith. — His first conspicuous service in the Con- 
federate States army at Manassas. His campaign with Bragg in Kentucky. — 
Great success of Gen. Smitli's part of the campaign. — Put in command of the 
Trans-Mississippi Department. — Extraordinary spirit of this part of the Confed- 
eracy. — Pecuhar miUtary difficulties of the department. — The Ked River cam- 
paign. — "Why Gen. Smith did not pursue Banks. — Affairs v^ith the Federal General 
Steele. — Judgment and prudence of Gen. Smith in deciding an alternative of 
campaigns. — Injustice of the popular censure on this subject. — Results and 
fruits of the Red River campaign. — Prejudice in Richmond against the Trans- 
Mississippi States. — "What they accomphshed in the war. — Gen. Smith's resolu- 
tion to hold out after Lee's surrender. — His troops demoralized, clamourous, 
and excited against their commander. — Terrible scenes of disorder. — History of 
the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi. — Review of Gen. Smith's military charac- 
ter. — Some explanation of unjust popular accusations. 

Edmond Kirby Smith is a native of Florida. His father was 
a Connecticut lawyer of repute, and shortly after the war of 1812, 
in which he served as a Major and Colonel, was appointed United 
States Judge for the District of Florida, and removed with his 
family to St. Augustine. Two sons were educated for the army. 
The elder graduated at West Point, was a Captain in the regular 
army during the Mexican War, and was killed at Molino del Rey. 
The younger, Edmond. graduated at West Point in 1845, and was 
ordered as Brevet Second-Lieutenant to the 5th Infantry, then 
with Gen. Taylor in Mexico. He was afterwards with Scott at 
Vera Cruz ; and such was his activity and merit in this war, that 
he received three brevets for gallant conduct in the space of less 
than a year — a brilliant record, where all were so brave and eager 
to win renown. 

In 1854, he was Captain in the same cavalry regiment with 



762 LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 

R. E. Lee, and others already mentioned. This regiment was 
assigned to the duty of checking the incursions of the Comanche 
Indians, and its principal field of operations was Texas. In the 
desperate and decisive battle with these savages, which occurred in 
May, 1S59, Capt. Smith was severely wounded. 

When the State of Florida seceded, Capt. Smith promptly 
resigned his commission in the United States army, and was among 
the first of its old officers to offer his services to President Davis, 
by whom he was sent to Virginia, to serve with Gen. Johnston, 
then commanding at Harpers Ferry. His first conspicuous ser- 
vice in the war was very brilliant and popular, as he reached the 
field of Manassas at the head of a brigade, in the heat of the 
battle, when the Confederate left wing was being hard pressed, and 
by his timely arrival made such an extension of the Confederate 
line, as to enable it to turn the enemy's flanking movement, and 
save the day. While executing this movement he was struck by 
a ball, and severely wounded. He was promoted Brigadier-Gen- 
eral for his service on this field ; but medical attention to his wound 
detained him many months, and it was not until the second year 
of the war he was again in active command. 

The defeat of Gen. Crittenden and the death of Gen. Zol- 
licofier, in East Tennessee, was the forerunner of all those disas- 
ters which followed each other with such rapidity in that quarter 
of the Confederacy. To repair the first-named disaster as far as 
possible, Gen. Smith was placed in command in East Tennessee. 
How completely he succeeded was not known until he had an 
opportunity to march into Kentucky. This march was concerted 
with Gen. Bragg, and was part of a grand strategic operation, 
which appeared likely to result in the liberation of Kentucky. 
Gen. Smith moved directly on Lexington, determined to strike at 
the very heart of the blue-grass country. At Richmond he 
encountered 10,000 men, under "Bull" Nelson, drawn up to dis- 
pute his progress. On the 30th August, 1862 — the day on which 
the second battle of Manassas was fought in Virginia — he attacked 
this force. An utter route ensued. 3,000 men threw down their 
arms and surrendered. All the enemy's stores, all his cannon, all 
his baggage — everything he had — were captured. The flight and 
pursuit were continued almost to the gates of Lexington, which, a 
few days after, surrendered, as did also Frankfort. The Legisla- 



LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 763 

ture fled to Louisville, and the Confederate flag was displayed on 
the capitol of the State. Gen. Smith pushed his reconnoissances 
to within a few miles of Cincinnati. Great expectations were 
excited by these successes, and at one time Gen. Smith dispatched 
to Eichmond that he had the prospect of obtaining 10,000 recruits 
in the State. Unfortunately, however, the columns of Gen. Bragg, 
in the other part of Kentucky, did not balance the successes of 
Gen. Smith. The campaign, as has been elsewhere related, ter- 
minated with the withdrawal of Bragg to Tennessee, and Gen. 
Smith was recalled to the main army, in time to join in its retreat 
through Cumberland Gap, and sorrowful abandonment of Ken- 
tucky. 

Gen. Smith's largest figure in the war was as commander of 
the Trans-Mississippi Department. In March, 1863, having been 
made a Lieutenant-General, he was appointed to the command of 
this extensive Department, including the States west of the Missis- 
sippi Eiver. This vast territory had been seriously affected by the 
fall of New Orleans, and at one time it was feared that it would 
prove delinquent in the war, under the pressure of Federal armies, 
and with but little hope of assistance from the government at 
Richmond, But it should be recorded to the Credit of this large 
section of the Confederacy, that despite everything done to conquer 
or corrupt its arms, and the little support, and even sinister coun- 
tenance, it had from Richmond, it preserved to the last its alle- 
giance to the Confederate cause, exhibited undiminished courage, 
and never lost the true inspiration of the war. This much it is 
proper to say, because of an unjust accusation long prevalent in 
Richmond of a languid or disloyal sentiment in the States of the 
Trans-Mississippi. In the face of the great disaster at New Orleans, 
and when events tended to the isolation from the central govern- 
ment of the States of Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri, and a large 
portion of Louisiana, and demagogues were plying schemes of 
"reconstruction," and attempting a return to the Federal rule, the 
Governors of these States assembled and issued a stirring address, 
evoking every patriotic effort to sustain the Confederate cause. In 
this appeal these high officers and brave men declared: "We 
have every confidence in the Confederate authorities ; we believe 
that they will fully sustain the credit of the government here, and 
provide amply for our future defence. But in order that they may 



764: LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 

be able thus to defend us, it behooves us all to be at work. Let 
every fire-arm be repaired, and every gunsmith and every worker 
in iron, and every mechanic be employed in fashioning the mate- 
rial for war. Let beauty sit day by day at the spinning-wheel, the 
loom, and with the needle, never wearying in preparing the neces- 
sary articles of clothing for the brave soldiers of our States, who 
stand between her and infamy and misery, as an impassable bul- 
wark. Let all the warlike resources of these great States be 
brought to light. It is for liberty and life we fight! and a good 
God has given us in this fair land all the material that brave men 
need to defend their homes and their honour." 

In April, 1S63, Gen. Smith crossed the Mississippi River, and 
assumed his new command through a general order which named 
Alexandria, Louisiana, as his headquarters. The department of 
which he now found himself practically the almost supreme com- 
mander, considering the difHculties of communication with Rich- 
mond, was one of imperial dimensions, but of vast and peculiar 
difficulties. It was so desolated, that, in order to subsist the troops 
it was necessary to scatter them. It was impossible for the Com- 
manding General to conjecture at what point in Louisiana, Arkansas, 
or Texas the enemy would enter his department. There was no 
important point against which, with his forces concentrated. Gen. 
Smith could take the offensive, and by compelling the enemy to 
defend it, save the territory he commanded from invasion. The 
hard alternative of a defensive campaign had to be accepted. The 
enemy, with superiour numbers, and illimitable means of transpor- 
tation, had the initiative, making it almost inevitable that he would 
overpower the Confederate forces at the point chosen for attack on 
this long line. In the fall of 1863, Gen. Smith had his forces dis- 
posed as follows : Gen. Taylor, with a large proportion of infantrj'- 
and Green's division of cavalry, was on the lower Red River and 
Teche. Gen. Price confronted Steele, who was at Little Rock, 
preparing for offensive movements towards the Red River. Gen. 
Magruder guarded the Texas coast. Gen. Maxey, with a mixed 
force of Texans and Indians, held in check about 5,000 of the ene- 
my under Gen. Thayer at Fort Smith. Small bodies of cavalry 
observed the lines between these armies. 

It was at first supposed that Gen. Banks was determined to 
invade Texas about the mouth of the Brazos. It soon became 



LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. • 765 

evident, however, after the return of Sherman from Meridian to 
Vicksbnrg, that a combined movement in great force by the armies 
under Banks and Steele, with large detachments from that of Sher- 
man, was to be made against the Trans-Mississippi Department. 
As there were immense naval armaments upon the Mississippi 
Eiver, with nothing else to do, it was clear that the line of the Eed; 
Eiver would be the line of advance of the principal column, to b^ 
supported by the gunboats, and supplied by transports convoyed 
by them. On the 26th February, 1864, instructions were given by 
telegraph for Green's division to hold itself in readiness, and on the 
6th March it was ordered to move with dispatch to Gen. Taylor, 
who w^as embarrassed for the want of cavalry. On the 12th March, 
a force consisting of portions of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth 
United States Corps, under command of Gen. A. J. Smith, amount- 
ing probably to 8,000 men, dropped down from Yicksburg and 
disembarked at Simmsport, on the Atchafalaya. With such 
secrecy and celerity was this effected, that Gen. Taylor was unable 
to concentrate his force in time to prevent Fort De Russy from 
being carried by assault. This was the only work capable of con- 
trolling the navigation of Red River. Embarking his troops, A. 
J. Smith pressed on and occupied Alexandria, turning the flank of 
Gen. Taylor, and obliging him to make a rapid march of seventy 
miles through pine-barrens, to recover his communications with 
Shreveport. At the same time. Banks, assembling his army at 
Berwick's Bay, moved up the Teche, and joining A. J. Smith at 
Alexandria, assumed command of a force of at least 30,000 men. 
Acting in conjunction was one of the most powerful fleets ever 
assembled upon a river. 

The situation was now imposing enough, and the campaign of 
the Red River was fairly commenced. While Banks advanced 
from Alexandria, Steele moved from Little Rock, upon a line lead- 
ing through Arkadelphia, Washington, and Fulton. The common 
objective point of these two columns was either Marshall or Shreve- 
port. The plan of Gen. Smith was to effect a concentration of 
every available man near Shreveport, before giving battle to either 
column; and to endeavour to so manoeuvre as to fight first one, 
and then the other, with the mass of his forces. The first encoun- 
ter of arms was at Mansfield, where Gen. Taylor, although he 
brought on the battle prematurely, gained a signal victory. Banks 



766 • LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 

reversed his trains, and took position at Pleasant Hill, to cover the 
retreat. Here Gen. Taylor, now reinforced by the Missouri and 
Arkansas troops, found him on the evening of the next day, 
attacked again, and although the battle was apparently a drawn 
one, the next morning found the demoralized enemy in full retreat 
to Grand Ecore, and the Confederate forces reposing on the laurels 
of two fields, and waiting the orders of the Commanding General 
for a prosecution of their success. 

That prosecution did not take place, as the popular imagination 
would have had it. There was long a passionate complaint in the 
newspapers that Gen. Smith did not improve his victories over 
Banks ; that he should have pursued him, and attempted, by a 
decisive action, to liberate the Department of the Gulf. But this 
complaint showed little regard for facts. After the battle of Pleas- 
ant Hill, Gen. Smith, surveying his extensive department, saw that 
there was one part of the enemy's combination yet intact, which 
the public did not observe ; that Steele's army of 15,000 men was 
advancing from Arkansas, and had already approached Camden. 
The choice was between pursuing Banks and moving against 
Steele. The former rested on his gunboats ; his retreat was com- 
paratively secure, and pursuit, beyond a certain point, impossible 
Steele was more than two hundred miles from Helena, his perma- 
nent base of operations and supplies ; his communications were 
through an open country, where his trains could be attacked at 
any point, and with nothing to protect him from being wholly 
devoured by cavalry could they once break his lines. With 
Steele's army would fall the fortifications of Little Eock, Pine 
Bluff, and Buvall's Bluff", giving the Confederates control of 
Northern Arkansas, where it was known they could obtain 10,000 
recruits. The political organizations which the enemy were indus- 
triously establishing would be broken up, and the way would be 
opened to Missouri for infantry. It was known that President 
Davis had almost demanded that an effort to reoccupy the Valley 
of the Arkansas should be made. Finally, the Arkansas troops 
had marched without hesitation or a murmur to relieve Louisiana, 
and both they and the citizens confidently relied on the Com- 
manding General for succour, as soon as it was in his power to 
afford it. 

Gen. Smith — wisely we must admit — decided to move against 



LIEDT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 767 

Steele in preference to concentrating his forces upon the pursuit 
of Banks. In fact, his troops, in crossing the Eed Eiver and 
driving Steele from Camden, were not going much away from 
Banks, but rather marching on the other side of the Eed Eiver, in 
such a direction that, after accomplishing their object, they could 
wheel and flank Banks, cutting him off from the road to Natchez, 
and lessening the probability of his ultimate escape from " Dick " 
Taylor, who had followed him. 

The campaign was wisely planned, but unfortunately did not 
realize all of Gen. Smith's expectations. He failed to capture or 
destroy Steele's army, by an accident which could not be foreseen — 
the failure of one of his divisions to get on the enemy's front 
between the Washita and the Sabine. But he captured from Steele 
ten pieces of artillery, compelling him to throw as many more into 
the river, near 1,000 wagons, and killed and captured 4,000 of 
his men. He ejected him from the valley of the Ouachita, and 
rendered him incapable of moving again for weeks or months to 
come. He was now free to use his whole force against Banks. 
He confidently hoped that the low stage of water in Eed Eiver 
would not admit of the passage of the fleet over the falls of Alex- 
andria, and that he would have time to reach there and engage him 
in decisive operations. The troops were moved immediately in that 
direction, and Walker's division reached Alexandria only to learn 
that the enemy had evacuated the place and escaped. 

In popular criticisms of a military campaign, it is usual to say 
that it might have been so much better if this or that had been 
done differently. Does it ever occur to these hasty calculators that 
in the very uncertainty of the events they count upon, it might 
have been so much worse! Gen. Smith's just expectations as 
against Steele, were in a measure disappointed ; but on the other 
hand, had he become seriously involved with Banks on Lower Eed 
Eiver, Steele might have advanced and seized Shreveport and Mar- 
shall before he could extricate himself to meet him. The defeat of 
his army before Natchitoches would have lost the department. 

The campaign of Gen. Smith was justly and ingeniously 
planned ; and although it fell short of a picture drawn by the pop- 
ular imagination, it must be taken as one of the most successful 
and brilliant of the war. It was more than once the subject of 
remark in newspaper criticisms in the war. that there was a class 



768 LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 

of persons never content with the successes of our arms who invari- 
ably demanded as a consequence of every victory that the enemy 
should be annihilated. These persons appeared incapable of un- 
derstanding that an enemy might sometimes be defeated, while the 
most consummate skill could not insure the capture of his whole 
force. It seems, indeed, that the Eichmond newspapers rarely 
recorded the event of a battle, but there came along some account 
of the Confederate forces having the enemy hemmed in, cut off, or 
all " bagged." Even sensible men indulged and encouraged this 
morbid appetite for the incredible. But what was most mortify- 
ing to the pride of commanders, it frequently happened, after a 
campaign in which the odds had been greatly against the Confed- 
erates, and during which the mass of the people exposed had been 
hopeless of the result, and ready to take the oath of allegiance to 
the enemy, these very people, whose miserable cowardice and want 
of determination were a disgrace to the country, found it unac- 
countable, perfectly outrageous, that the Federals were not all 
destroyed, and that the utter annihilation of the enemy was not the 
consequence of every victory won in the open field. 

Despite those criticisms of the weak and selfish, history will 
record the campaign of the Eed Kiver as one of brilliant glory for 
Gen. Smith, a renowned achievement and an example of general- 
ship, among the most famous and honourable of the war. He did 
not annihilate Banks, but he defeated and disgraced him, and 
reduced the splendid empire he had projected west of the Mississippi 
to the tenure of New Orleans, the banks of the river, and a strip 
of the sea-coast. The fruits of the campaign were large and visi- 
ble. They were thus enumerated in an official synopsis : Enemy's 
losses — In Louisiana, 5,000 killed and wounded, 4,000 prisoners, 
21 pieces of artillery, 200 wagons, 1 gunboat, 3 transports. In 
Arkansas, 1,400 killed, 2,000 wounded, 1,500 prisoners, 13 pieces 
of artillery, 900 wagons. Confederate losses, 8,000 killed, 
.wounded and missing, against enemy's losses, 14,000. Confederate 
strength 15,000, against enemy's strength 47,000. 

The campaign was necessarily defensive in its character. "When 
the conception of its plan, the manner in which each part of it was 
executed by those to whom it was assigned, the vast extent of 
territory upon which the concentration of troops had to be effected, 
the absence of railroad or water transportation for either the 



LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 769 

troops or supplies, the disparity of force, the complete failure of 
the cnem}' in effecting his objects, the loss inflicted upon him, and 
the moral effect upon the country are considered, it must be stamped 
as one of the most brilliant of the war. 

This campaign alone should have been sufficient to silence the 
habitual clamour at Eichmond that the general condition of the 
Trans-Mississippi Department was lassitude, and that the operations 
of Gen. Smith were languid and indecisive. There was a sectional 
jealousy and selfishness in this clamour. The just and intelligent 
historian of the war, instead of adopting the stale cry that the 
operations of the Trans-Mississippi extended no aid to the common 
cause, will admire the administration which showed this distant 
and abused country capable of sustaining itself. The fact is 
derived from official records, that the Department of the Trans- 
Mississippi sent east of the river largely over 100,000 men since 
the beginning of the war, and yet not one had it received in return 
except officers. For two years this Department had not received 
any aid from the Cis-Mississippi in men, supplies, or arms. It had 
not even been furnished with treasury-notes to pay off its soldiers, 
who had been marching and fighting all the while without pay. 
In that time, Gren. Smith had succeeded in bringing some order 
out of the chaos which he found existing there. He had powder- 
mills, arsenals, workshops, where before there were none. The 
shot which repelled the enemy on the Eed Eiver was made of 
iron extracted from its ore, although no mine had ever before been 
worked within the limits of his command. The army had been 
clad, shod, subsisted, and furnished with munitions and transpor- 
tation, without any aid or direct support of the government. 
Surely such results of wise and ingenious administration are of 
infinite honour to Gen. Smith, and deserve a page of wonder and 
admiration in the history of the war. 

When the surrender of Gens. Lee, Johnston and Taylor gave 
to the enemy all the territory east of the Mississippi Eiver, it was 
expected by President Davis and the few who adhered to his for- 
tunes, to find a refuge in the Trans-Mississippi, and to erect there 
the last hope of the Southern Confederacy. To these expectations 
Gen. Smith responded with noble spirit and the most desperate 
and exalted courage ; and it was not his fault that the vision of 
President Davis was not realized. West of the Mississippi, after 

49 



^70 LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 

Lee's surrender, there were probably 100,000 men under arms, in 
disorganized commands, to be sure, and dispirited by the tidings 
from Virginia and the Carolinas ; but who can doubt that if they 
had remained uncorrupted and been joined by as many more from 
the East, there would have been force and resolution enough to 
have erected the declining fortunes of the Confederacy ! It was 
hoped that most of the men who deserted at the last moment before 
the surrender east of the Mississippi, would try to get across the 
river. It was said that all the " exchanged prisoners " would 
come. Men of high official distinction hid their horses in the 
impenetrable swamps for three weeks after Lee's surrender, hoping 
to hear President Davis had crossed the river. Gen. Smith, at the 
head of the Department, resolved to defend it still, if he could. He 
did not feel justified to surrender without an order from the Presi- 
dent. He resolved, therefore, to fight to the last extremity — that 
to yield where there was, as yet, no foe to receive the surrender, 
was too disgraceful. He rejected the demand for the surrender of 
the Department, and issued an appeal to the soldiers to stand by 
their colours. 

The spirit of this resolution was that of a brave and conscien- 
tious man. In a circular letter addressed to the Governors of 
Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri, and dated at Shreve- 
port, 9th May, 1865, Gen. Smith wrote: "Since the evacuation 
of Richmond, the seat of government of the Confederate States has 
not been fixed, and it may be transferred to the western side of the 
Mississippi. It is impossible to confer with the President so as to 
meet the exigencies of the times, and questions of grave political 
importance beyond my military authority may arise, and require 
prompt decision. Intending to uphold the authority of the Con- 
federate Government by arms, to the utmost, I yet feel that I 
should carefully avoid any appearance of usurping functions not 
intrusted to my discretion." He besought a convention of the 
Governors he addressed to indicate some policy to maintain with 
honour and success the Confederate cause. He exhorted the 
troops ; he prepared an eloquent address to the army ; lie visited 
what remained of the Confederate forces at Shreveport ; and he 
entreated the men to stand by their colours a little longer, in 
prospect of aid and countenance from the other side of the Mis- 
sissippi. 



LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIKBY SMITH. 7tl 

But these appeals, with which he nobly filled the last measure 
of duty, and exhausted himself, fell upon doubting ears and despair- 
ing hearts. A frightful demoralization began to take place in the 
army. It was generally felt that the struggle was ended with 
Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court-House. Many of the Texas 
soldiers were disbanding and returning to their homes ; the army 
was melting away ; the Missouri officers, believing they would be 
expatriated by the enemy, had determined to withdraw with their 
troops, in a body, across the Eio Grande. Governor Allen, of 
Louisiana, strongly advised a surrender, and proposed acting for 
the Governors of the other States of the Trans-Mississippi, to go to 
Gen. Grant's headquarters, or to Washington City, to surrender 
the Department, since Gen. Smith refused to do so in his military 
capacity. By such different counsels the army was demoralized, 
and at last the disorder and turmoil were frightful. A recent nar- 
rator of these events sa3''s : " The wildest rumours prevailed 
throughout the country. Conflicting reports of Smith's resolution 
to fight on, and Allen's to surrender, produced great confusion of 
thoughts and tongues. The soldiers took the alarm, and began to 
disband by hundreds in open daylight. Their officers lost all 
power to control the men. The soldiers were infuriated with rage 
and disappointment. They had not been paid for a long time, 
owing, they believed, to the carelessness, negligence, cupidity, or 
rascality of the quartermasters. They now robbed all the govern- 
ment stores and depots, distributing the contents as fairly and 
equitably as they could among themselves. The fierce, strong 
women, too, in some counties in Texas, gathered together in bands, 
broke into depots of sugar and array stores, with weapons in their 
hands, helping themselves to cloth, coffee, sugar, and luxuries, to 
which they had long been strangers. The soldiers were much 
exasperated against Gen. Smith. They would almost have killed 
him, if they had been able, as innocent as he was of any crime 
against them or his country. He had done all he could, in such a 
rough state of affairs. Smith was sent for to go to Houston, to 
try and hold the army together there. He left Buckner in com- 
mand at Shreveport. The army in Louisiana took the infection of 
disbanding. Buckner sent for Allen to come to Natchitoches to 
address Hay's troops, who were demoralized. Allen went imme- 
diately ; he met the last division near Mansfield, marching home- 



772 LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 

■wards. He stopped them, addressed them, making a most pathetic 
appeal to them. * * * * At Hempstead, a party of 
twenty-five young men volunteered to escort and protect Gen. 
Smith to Houston. They did not consider his life safe on the 
high-roads. The Missouri troops remained faithful. They sent 
a deputation to Buckner and other officers, to inform them ' that 
they would not go either to Texas or Mexico; that they had 
fought for the Confederac}'', were still ready to fight for it, so long 
as a man remained, but if the country was to be given up, they 
intended to surrender like soldiers, and their officers should stay 
with them .■' '" 

It was in circumstances and scenes like these that Gen. Smith 
despaired of a prolongation of the war, and on the 26th May, 1865, 
concluded, through commissioners, the surrender of his army to 
Gen. Canby. This conclusion had become irresistible, even with- 
out the force of the enemy's arms. At Houston he issued a fare- 
well address to his troops, in which he declared: "Your present 
duty is plain. Return to your families. Resume the occupations 
of peace. Yield obedience to the laws. Labour to restore order. 
Strive both by counsel and example to give security to life and 
property. And may God in his mercy direct you aright, and heal 
the wounds of our distracted country." 

The military character of Gen. Smith has scarcely been treated 
with justice in the popular and cotemporary records of the war. 
He was the victim of many rumours, growing out of the obscurity 
and comparative isolation of his department, and, at one time, he 
was absurdly and brutally accused in the newspapers of an attempt 
to negotiate a transfer of his forces to the Emperor of Mexico. He 
was also accused of speculations in cotton, etc., in which, doubtless, 
some Confederate officers did grow rich at the expense of the 
reputation of the Commanding General. No more fuithful patriot 
existed in the armies of the Confederac}^, and no purer man was 
in any of its public stations. Although Gen. Smith may not have 
had the highest genius of a commander, he achieved a most hon- 
ourable sum of success in the war, and had many excellent quali- 
ties. He was a dashing soldier in the field ; he was a man of 
personal courage and high probity ; and if he had a fault, it was 
that he was too facile and yielding to the impudent and im]3ortu- 
eate demands of often unworthy subordinates. His character was 



LIEUT.-GEN. EDMOND KIRBY SMITH. 773 

very amiable, and in his appearance and manners there was noth- 
ing of the swollen port or harsh precision of the military com- 
mander.* He was remarkable for his piety, and it was said that 
a few years before the war, he entertained serious thoughts of 
abandoning the profession of arms and studying for the ministry. 
His command in the Trans-Mississippi was a very difficult one, 
beset with many conflicting interests and private speculations, and 
constantly assailed by intrigue; and perhaps he was too gentle and 
retiring for a position so peculiar. 

* A pleasant anecdote, related in the newspapers, illustrates the manners of the 
General. When he first arrived in his department he made his way to Gen. Magru- 
der's office. But one staff-officer happened to be in, and, as young men sometimes 
will do, he was occupying a position more comfortable than elegant, with his back 
to the door, singing "Dixie." Gen. Smith interrupted him with: "Is this Gen, 
Magruder's office ? " The young officer broke off his song only long enough to reply : 
"Yes, sir." Gen. S.—" Is the General in?" Officer— "No, sir." Gen. S.—" Will 
he be in soon?" Officer — "Don't know, sir." Gen. S. — " How long has he been 
gone?" Officer— "Don't know, sir." Gen. S.—" Where is he ? " Officer— "Don't 
know, sir. It is not my work to keep him." Gen. S. — "Ahem! My name is 
Smith." Officer — " Yes. Good many Smiths about — several been to see the General." 
Gen. S. — "They sometimes call me Lieutenant-General Smith." Officer — "The 
deuce you say I " The officer turned a very rapid somersault, and disappeared in a 
twinkling. 



LIEUT.-GEN. SIMON B. BUCKNER. 



CHAPTER LX2II. 

Services and promotions in the United States Army. — His connection with the 
"State Guard" of Kentucky. — Memorandum of a conference with George B. 
McClellan, concerning Kentucky's neutrality. — He refuses military service with 
either of the belligerents. — His conversion to the service of the Confederate 
States. — Commissioned a Brigadier-General. — Captured at Fort Douelson. — Run- 
ning the gauntlet of Northern mobs. — A cutting remark to a Federal officer. — 
Released, and takes command in Hardee's corps. — His disagreement with Gen. 
Bragg concerning the field of Perryville. — In command at Mobile. — Transferred 
to East Tennessee. — Important assistance in the Chickaraauga campaign. — An- 
other disagreement between Bragg and his officers. — Gen. Buckner transferred to 
the Trans-Mississippi, and commands the district of Louisiana. — Included in Gen. 
E. Kirby Smith's surrender. — A pecuharity of Gen, Buckner's character. — His 
high moral courage. 

Simon Bolivar Buckner was born April 1, 1823, in Hart 
county, Kentucky. He entered West Point in 1840, and having 
completed his term of education there, was assigned as brevet sec- 
ond-lieutenant to the 2d regiment of infantry, joining his regiment 
at Sackett's Harbour, New York. In 1845, he was ordered to 
duty as assistant instructor of ethics at West Point, whence he was 
relieved on his own application, in May, 1846, and ordered to the 
Eio Grande. He took part in the most important incidents of the 
Mexican War, and was brevetted a first lieutenant for gallant con- 
duct at Cherubusco, and a captain for gallant conduct at Molino 
del Rey. He was detached from his regiment on its return from 
Mexico, and remained on duty at West Point until 1850, as assist- 
ant instructor of infantry tactics. He then rejoined his regiment 
in Minnesota, and was subsequently ordered to duty on the 
Plains, being assigned to command a military post, Fort Atkinson, 
on the Santa Fe route, 360 miles from the nearest settlement. He 
gave protection to that route with only sixty men, although at 



LIEUT.-GEN. SIMON B. BUCKNER. T75 

that time the neighbouring Indian tribes — the Northern Coman- 
ches, the Kiowas, the Cheyennes and Arrapahoes — were uncertain 
in their disposition, if not positively hostile. In 1852, he was 
promoted captain in the subsistence department, and was stationed 
in the city of New York. He resigned his commission in the 
army in 1855, and subsequently settled in Louisville, Kentucky. 

In 1860, he framed the bill reorganizing the militia of Ken- 
tucky, and erecting it into a State Guard, and was subsequently 
appointed by Governor Magoffin its commander, with the rank of 
Major-General, Gen. Helm being second in command. It may be 
said here, that to the labours and energy of these officers, was due the 
marked efficiency afterwards shown by the Kentucky troops in the 
Confederate States armies, the foundation of their discipline and 
expertness inarms having been laid in the camps of instruction 
of the State Guard. It was while performing the duties of this 
office that Gen. Buckner had a notable interview with Gen. McClel- 
lan, in which the Federal General agreed to respect the assumed 
neutral position of Kentucky, as long as the State enforced it 
against the Confederates, By the suggestion of the latter, Gen. 
Buckner visited him at his residence in Cincinnati, in June, 1861, 
and in the presence of a citizen of Kentucky, they held a confer- 
ence as to her position and wishes. The result was a distinct 
verbal arrangement that Federal troops should not occupy the soil 
of Kentucky unless she was first invaded by Confederates ; that if 
so invaded, Gen. Buckner should use his forces to drive back the 
invaders, and if he failed, or was unable to do so, then Federal 
troops should be sent to aid him, but should be immediately with- 
drawn when the invaders were repelled. Such was the agreement 
made by McClellan, and afterwards acknowledged and confirmed 
by him in an interview with Gen. Buckner, Judge Bigger and Col, 
Bullock, held on the 13th June, at Cairo, in Illinois, This arrange- 
ment, if faithfully observed, would have secured Kentucky's neu- 
trality, at least for a time ; but it was soon repudiated by the Fed- 
erals, and Gen, McClellan himself had the hardihood to write, " I re- 
garded Gen. Buckner's promise to drive out the Confederate troops 
as the only result of the interview; his letter gives his own views, 
not mine," — as if it was possible that Gen. Buckner could have 
consented to such a unilateral and absurd arrangement ! 

Thinking the neutral position of Kentucky well taken, Gen. 



776 LIEUT.-GEN. SIMON B. BUCKNER. 

Buckner, in July, 1861, resigned his command of the State Guard 
and determined to take no part in the war on either side. From 
the uncouth assurance of President Lincoln, that he would not 
molest the neutrality of Kentucky " as long as there were any 
rounds around the State, by which the rebellion would be reached," 
Gen. Buckner was induced to believe this neutrality might be 
respected. lie repeatedly declined high military positions ten- 
dered him in the United States army; he equally declined the 
Confederate service ; and averse to any employment in a war he 
deplored, he maintained a neutral, but attentive attitude, and 
waited the progress of events. 

When, after the August elections of 1861, the Federal Govern- 
ment, seconded by a party in the State, proceeded to violate the 
neutrality of Kentucky, Gen. Buckner hesitated no longer to make 
his choice and to turn his face against the rapid advances of Federal 
oppression. Whatever criticism may now be bestowed upon his 
choice, he acted from severe and noble motives. With a large 
estate in the north, and valuable property on the borders of Ken- 
tucky, and the offer of high position in the Federal army, every 
temporal interest would have tended to induce him to join the 
North. But throwing these considerations aside, he for the first 
time, after the Federal forces had occupied Paducah, at the mouth 
of the Tennessee River, and after the legislature of the State had 
declined to enforce its neutrality declarations, tendered his services 
unconditionally to the Confederate States. He received the ap- 
pointment of Brigadier-General on the 16th September ; and under 
instructions from Gen. A. Sidney Johnston, occupied Bowling- 
Green, Kentucky, on the following day, with a force of between 
4,000 and 5,000 men, without a wagon or other means of trans- 
portation in the little army. Two weeks afterwards Gen. Johnston 
himself assumed command, having brought with him an additional 
force. 

Shortly thereafter followed the disaster of Fort Donelson — a 
sorrowful, and familiar story, but one gilded with extraordinary 
spirit and generosity on the part of Gen. Buckner. He had re- 
inforced the garrison, and shared in the battles of three days. 
He was third in command ; and yet when it was decided in council 
of war that further resistance was useless, he refused to escape with 
his seniors, and saying briefly that he " would share the fate of his 



LIEUT.-GEN. SIMON B. BUCKNER. T77 

men,-' he chose captivity with them, whose dangers and privations 
he had shared on the field. Having surrendered and become a 
prisoner of war, he was conducted under close guard to Indianapolis, 
and thence to Fort "Warren, in Boston Harbour. In this painful 
travel, he was exposed to curious and insulting mobs, and at every 
stage of the journey a brutal show was enforced of the distin- 
guished prisoner.* On one of these occasions, he displayed an 
admirable dignity and presence of mind. The exceptionally cour- 
teous officer who accompanied him, was himself so disgusted by 
the scenes which were enacted by the populace, that on reaching 
one of the large cities on the route where it was necessary to change 
conveyances, he requested Gen. Buckner to throw a citizen's cloak 
around him in order to conceal his uniform, and thus escape obser- 
vation from the mob. " I thank you. Colonel, " replied Gen. 
Buckner, "but, I think it unkind that you should ask a Confed- 
erate officer to disguise himself to prevent your people from dis- 
gracing themselves." 

For four months and a half Gen. Buckner endured the pangs 
of solitary confinement — such being the cruel penalty inflicted 
upon him by orders from "Washington. In August, 1862, he 
was exchanged, and the Confederate Government at once showed 
appreciation of the spirit that had prompted his self-sacrifice at 
Donelson, and sustained him in the lonely hours of prison, by 

* A Boston journal had the following account of the popular reception in that 
polite city of Gen. Buckner, and fellow-prisoner, Gen. Tilghman: — "The rebel Gen- 
erals Simon BoUvar Buckner and Lloyd Tilghman, were immediatly sent to Fort 
"Warren, in the harbour. It was not generally known that they were to arrive, but there 
was a crowd present large enough, and noisy enough, to make it decidedly unpleasant, 
both to the prisoners and the officers who had them in charge. They occupied a car 
situated in the middle of the long train. The crowd pressed round this car as soon 
as the Generals were discovered, and commenced hissing, groaning and howling in a 
manner calculated to give the occupants an impression not altogether favourable to 
the citizens of the ' Yankee capital.' Policemen appeared with the two Generals, and 
conducted them to the front of the depot, followed by the crowd, which was rapidly 
swelling in numbers. The prisoners jumped into a hack in waiting there. As they 
drove off, the crowd amused itself by groaning vehemently for Jeff. Davis. The 
guard of soldiers did not leave the car in which they arrived at the depot until the 
prisoners had been driven off in the hack. When the}'' marched out into the street, 
some persons in the crowd which still lingered about the place were belligerently in- 
clined. One fellow appealed to his comrade to know if they were going to let ' rebels' 
run loose about the streets ; to which appeal one of said comrades made bold to reply 
that they ' warn't goin' ter du nuthin' er that sort.' " 



778 LIEUT.-GEN. SIMON B. BUCOTER. 

promoting him to a Major-Generalship. He assumed command 
of a division in Hardee's Corps, then at Chattanooga, and reen- 
tered the Western theatre of the war just in time to take part 
in Gen, Bragg's Kentucky campaign. 

His services in this campaign were remarkable, and especially 
his clear perceptions of the field of Perryville showed general- 
ship of the highest order, and might have accomplished a deci- 
sive result but for the obstinate dissent of the Commanding 
General from all his officers. When Gen. Bragg declined to 
give Buell battle on his march to Louisville, and retired to Bards- 
town, Gen. Buckner was detached temporarily from his division 
to superintend the organization of new regiments in Kentucky. 
He had scarcely entered upon this duty at Lexington when 
Buell's advance recalled him to his gallant command. He 
reported to Gen. Bragg at Harrodsburg, on the afternoon of the 
7th October, 1862. At that time Gen. Hardee, with two divi- 
sions, was in front of the enemy at Perryville, The rest of 
the army — including Gen. Smith's army, and Gen. Humphre}'- 
Marshall's division — was in the immediate vicinity of Harrods- 
burg. The enemy were pressing Hardee heavily at Perry- 
ville, ten miles soutliward from Harrodsburg, They were also 
moving on Salvisa, about fifteen miles northwest of the same place. 
On reporting to Gen. Bragg, Gen. Buckner imparted to him the 
information which he had learned, through his secret agents, 
that the Federal Gen. McCook, with from 20,000 to 30,000 men, 
was at Macksville, ten miles west of Harrodsburg, moving to 
reinforce the enemy at Perryville, and urged an immediate con- 
centration of the army at Perryville, to meet this movement. 
Gen. Bragg replied that he had reason to think the enemy were 
in heavy force in the direction of Salvisa. Gen. Buckner urged 
acrain that it would be the most natural movement for the 
enemy to press with his greatest force at Perryville, thus endanger- 
ino-our communications while covering his own ; that Gen. Hardee 

O CD ^ 

was already heavily pressed at that point ; that to meet this danger 
it was necessary to concentrate the entire available force ; and 
that even if the enemy should have committed the error of send- 
ing the mass of his army towards Salvisa, it was still advisable 
to concentrate the army at Perryville, to overwhelm the sup- 
posed inferiour force at that point, to free our own communica- 



LIEUT.-GEN. SIMON B. BUCOTER. Y79 

tions, and to move upon those of the enemy, intercepting him 
from Louisville, and thus fighting him jn detail. These views 
did not seem to impress Gen. Bragg. When similar views were 
urged by Gen. Polk, Gen. Bragg enunciated the novel proposi- 
tion that, " as the enemy are divided, we can afford to divide, 
too." To the written communications of Gen. Hardee, supported 
by the opinion of Gen. Cheatham, subsequently received, no 
more attention was paid ; but Gen. Bragg made the singular 
disposition of sending Cheatham's division only of Polk's wing 
to reinforce Hardee, of ordering Wither's division of the same 
wing in the direction of Salvisa, and of sending Kirby Smith 
with his army, and Marshall with his division, back respectively 
towards Yersailles and Lexington. Thus an army which had 
been concentrated for action had, on the eve of battle, been scat- 
tered to the four points of the compass, in spite of the respect- 
ful remonstrances of every general ofiicer who came in contact 
with the Commanding General. 

The battle of Perry ville was a Confederate success, without 
decisive results. After the retreat from Kentucky, which followed, 
Gen. Buckner relinquished the command of his division in the 
Army of the Mississippi, thenceforth known as the Army of Ten- 
nessee, to Cleburne, on whom it subsequently conferred imperish- 
able renown ; and having received orders to repair to Mobile, he 
assumed command of the Department of the Gulf, then threatened 
with an attack. In December, 1862, he found Mobile almost an 
open town, with a garrison of about four thousand men. He pro- 
jected the system of defensive works which made it so formidable ; 
he strengthened the river works, and was rapidly urging to com- 
pletion the land defences, when, in May, 1863, he received orders 
to repair to Knoxville, and take command of the Department of 
East Tennessee. This department was then in a very disorganized 
condition, and the division of political sentiment of its people 
made the position of Gen. Buckner one of peculiar embarrassment 
and trouble. He gave a rare and valuable example of modera- 
tion ; he established a complete toleration of opinion ; and whatever 
might be the view of any citizen on political questions, he was 
free from molestation, as long as he did not actively oppose the 
existing government. It was a wise and salutary practice, and 
characteristic of Gen. Buckner, whose even and just temper 



780 LIEUT.-GEN. SIMON B. BUCKNER. 

always deplored the passions of party, and was indisposed to any- 
thing like the revenge or rancour of a victorious faction. 

From East Tennessee he joined Gen. Bragg's army near Chat- 
tanooga, and having, in a great measure, neutralized Burnside's 
forces, contributed a most important element of success to the cam- 
paign which culminated at Chickamauga. But here again a great 
opportunity was spoiled by diverse counsels. The victory obtained 
over the enemy was considered so complete that Longstreet, Polk, 
Hill, Buckner, and others, counselled an immediate advance across 
the Tennessee E,iver, by a ford six miles above Chattanooga. This 
was at one time determined on ; but to the surprise of the whole 
army, the different columns were directed upon Chattanooga, and 
the army sat down before that place, to invest a fortress on the only 
side from which supplies could not be drawn, even though the 
garrison might have had free access to the surrounding country. 
The delay before Chattanooga threatened to be so fatal to the Con- 
federate cause, that the principal officers of the army could not 
refrain from respectful protests against the inaction of the Com- 
manding General. These differences induced a visit of President 
Davis to Chattanooga. ITe maintained Gen. Bragg in command. 
The latter continued the partial investment of Chattanooga, and 
reorganized the army in the presence of a superiour enemy. This 
reorganization, as was predicted, resulted disastrously. The prin- 
ciple which seemed the basis of the new organization was to assign 
troops to commanders whom they did not know, and by whom 
they were not known ; thus destroying the confidence between 
commanders and troops so essential to efficiency. During this 
partial investment, the Confederate army, already inferiour in 
strength to that of the enemy, was further weakened by detailing 
Longstreet against Knoxville. It was popularly thought that 
Longstreet favoured this movement. He was, in fact, opposed to 
it, as were Buckner and most of the senior officers of the army. 
Li a letter to Gen. Buckner, written at the beginning of this 
movement. Gen. Longstreet sufficiently gave his views when he 
stated that he was leaving with a force not strong enough to 
accomplish success, yet large enough to imperil the main body of 
the army before Chattanooga. The result at Missionary Kidge 
justified the criticism. 

Gen. Buckner was detained by sickness from the command of 



LIEUT.-GEN. SIMON" B. BUCKNER. 781 

his division in Longstreet's expedition. On rejoining the army 
in East Tennessee, he was assigned to the command of Hood's 
old division ; but when the campaign of 1864: opened, and Long- 
street was ordered to Yirginia, Gen. Buckner was ordered to 
report to Gen. E. Kirby Smith, on the application of that com- 
mander, supported by the wishes of the Congressional delegates; 
from the Trans-Mississippi. On his arrival at Shreveport, he wa^ 
assigned to the command of the District of Louisiana, to succeed 
Lieut.-Gen. Taylor, who was ordered to command in Alabama 
and Mississippi. He was soon afterwards promoted to the grade 
of Lieutenant-General. As such, in addition to his geographical 
command, he commanded a corps of the Trans-Mississippi army, 
composed of one Louisiana division of infantry, one from Arkan- 
sas, and one from Missouri, and a cavalry command composed 
of Missouri, Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana troops. 

Tliere were but few active operations in the Trans-Mississippi 
after the spring campaign of 1861. Gen. Price's invasion of 
Missouri had some design as an aid to Hood's movements in 
Georgia, but fell below expectation, and accomplished no impor- 
tant results. The surrender of Gens. Lee and Johnston left the 
Trans-Mississippi Department Avithout any steady prospect of 
prolongation of the struggle, and the convention for a surrender 
was negotiated by Lieut.-Gen. Buckner and Maj.-Gen. Price, with 
Maj.-Gen. Canby, of the United States Army. By the terms of 
surrender, Gen. Buckner was not permitted to return at once to 
his home in Kentucky. He accordingly remained in New 
Orleans, where accident had thrown him. Having saved noth- 
ing from the \vreck of his fortune, he sought, without repining 
over the past, to earn a support by applying himself at once to 
the changed condition of the country. The sword having failed 
him he took up the pen, and is a constant contributor to one of 
the daily newspapers in New Orleans. His attention to commer- 
cial pursuits had secured the confidence of the business men of 
New Orleans to such an extent that he was selected, in 1866, as 
the President of an insurance company, made up by many of the 
principal merchants of the city. This position he now holds. 

In the character of Gen. Buckner there is a peculiar trait, 
besides his good qualities as a commander. It is a severe con- 
scientiousness, a high moral courage, that never would bend 



782 LIEUT.-GEN. SIMON B. BUCKNER. 

either to a consideration of expediency or a command of authority. 
We have noticed an evidence of this disposition when he dechned 
to take up arms on the hypothesis of Kentucky's neutrality. It 
was strongly illustrated by an incident of the campaign in Ken- 
tucky. Previous to that period several summary executions had 
taken place in the Army of the Mississippi, under colour of the 
sentence of what were called " military commissions." Gen. 
Buckner received, at Sparta, an order to execute two soldiers of 
his command, who had been condemned by such an illegal tri- 
bunal. He declined compliance with the order, for the reasons, 
that no such tribunal was known to our laws ; that the mock 
trial of the parties, therefore, had no legal effect ; that the order 
of the commander was consequently arbitrary and unlawful ; 
that to obey it would be to commit murder ; and that as he had 
taken up arms in opposition to the arbitrary exercise of usurped 
authority, he could not consistently sustain such an usurpation 
over constitutional rights. Upon this remonstrance, the Com- 
manding General reconsidered his action, reprieved the soldiers, 
and ceased the practice of summary executions, except when 
adjudged by courts-martial — the only legal tribunals established 
for the trial of military offenders. 



MAJ.-GEK JOHN B. FLOYD. 



CHAPTER LXXIII. 



FamUy record of the Floyds.— Adventures of George Rogers Clarke.— John Floyd, the 
elder. — His services as Governor of Virginia. — Early life of young Floyd. — A 
planter in Arkansas. — His political career in Virginia. — A member of President 
Buchanan's Cabinet. — His political views and services in the Cabinet. — Private 
DURY OF Secretaey Floyd. — Extraordinary statement of President Buchanan, 
justifying the secession of the Southern States, in a certain event. — Private views 
of Washington politicians. — How Secretary Floyd came to resign his position in 
the Cabinet.— Clamour and recriminations of the Republican party. — Floyd ap- 
pointed a Brigadier-General in the Confederate States service. — His campaign in 
"Western Virginia. — Battles of Fort Donelson. — Ho is relieved from command. — 
Appointed by Virginia a Major-General of State troops. — Operations on the head- 
waters of the Big Sandy.— His death. — A great and generous character assailed 
by partisan influences. 

The subject of this sketch had but a slight military record in 
the war. But he was one of the most important politicians of 
the South, and one of the most remarkable characters of Virginia. 

His family record is closely interwoven with the public his- 
tory of the country, and is intensely interesting. The Floyds 
were of Welsh extraction. The ancestor of the name in America 
settled on the eastern shore in Virginia. The family soon di- 
vided into three branches : one of them remaining in Virginia ; 
another established himself in New York ; and the third emigrat- 
ing to Georgia. The Virginia stirps moved up into the interiour 
country, now Amherst county of that State. There the head of 
the family intermarried with a half-breed Indian girl. Shortly 
before the era of the Revolution, a young and enterprising de- 
scendant of this union, John Floyd, proceeded still further west- 
ward, and became the assistant of a notable surveyor, William 
Preston, in what is now Montgomery county, Virginia. This lat- 



784 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 

ter was the nephew of James Patton, an emigrant from the north 
of Ireland, a retired captain of the British navy, after the treaty 
of Utrecht, who had come to America, bearing as a reward for 
approved services, grants or patents from the crown for indefinite 
acres of the royal lands. These the nephew, William Preston, 
assisted by young Floyd, found abundant occupation in locating 
upon the richest soils of Southwest Virginia ; and it was proba- 
bly the same object that soon took the latter to a more distant 
field of labour. 

The search for good lands and a taste for adventure, after a 
few years, had identified young Floyd with Kentucky ; where, 
"Washington- like, he surveyed and located lands, industriously, 
for several years. "W"e soon find him in intimate companionship 
there with Daniel Boone, the pioneer. The histories of that 
young State, and the records of the family, make him one of the 
party that rescued Boone's daughters from the Indians, who had 
kidnapped them while fishing alone and unprotected. We find 
John Floyd's name among those of the first bench of justices of 
the peace that were commissioned for the county of Kentucky 
by the Virginia Executive. John Floyd also became intimately 
associated with Gen. George Kogers Clarke, who commanded 
troops of the colony of Virginia on the Ohio waters ; and who, 
at the head of these troops, subsequently conquered for the Com- 
monwealth of Virginia, from the British crown, the territory 
between the Ohio River and the great lakes, called the North- 
western Territory ; a splendid domain, which Virginia ceded to the 
Union. What command Floyd held under Clarke is not known ; 
but he was with that patriot when he rejected the title of nobility 
proftered him in the name of the British king, to secure his 
fidelity to the crown at the beginning of the Revolution." 

* Gen. Clarke spent a lar^e private fortune in maintaining his Virginia army on 
the waters of the Ohio, during, and subsequently to the Revolutionary struggle. Ho 
was never reimbursed, and lived and died in straitened circumstances. After 
many years, Virginia ceded the territory, thus cheaply acquired, to the Union, and 
voted Clarke a sword ; which, when taken to him, he ran into the ground and broke ; 
remarking that she should first pay her debts, and bestow compliments afterwards 
When the grandson of his companion in arms, John R Floyd, became Secretary of 
War at Washington, he caused a portrait of Gen. Geo. Rogers Clarke to be accu- 
rately copied from one in his family possession, and placed in the War OEBce at 
Washington. 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 785 

The war of 1775, and a tender attraction, brought Floyd back 
from Kentucky to Smithfield, the Patton homestead, in Mont- 
gomery county, Southwest Virginia. The attraction was a young 
lady, a cousin of William Preston, and a niece of James Patton, 
named Buchanan. About the time of his return, a messenger 
came to him from Mr. Cabell, in the lowlands, who owned ship- 
ping. He was invited to join William Radford, of Richmond, 
and others more competent than either to manage sea-craft, in a 
maritime expedition which the Tories denounced as piratical, but 
which the Whigs called privateering ; and he obeyed the sum- 
mons. The adventure was both brief and luckless; for the two 
captured young rebels soon found themselves inclosed in an Eng- 
lish prison — tradition says, in the tower of London — as prisoners 
of war. After a tedious incarceration, they made their escape, 
through the favour of a young girl, who was a domestic in the 
Tower, and managed to reach Paris, where, through the solicita- 
tions of Dr. Franklin, the colonial agent, they obtained money 
from Marie Antoinette, with which to return to America, where 
Floyd arrived in time to prevent the marriage of the Buchanan 
maiden to another lover and to secure the prize for himself. He 
soon went back to Kentucky, where lie engaged actively in the ware 
against the Indians which were incident to the Revolution, and 
was finally killed by the Indians near Louisville, leaving two sons, 
George Rogers Clarke Floyd, who remained in Kentucky, and 
John Floyd, who came to Yirginia. The mother of the two boys 
afterwards married James Breckenridge of Kentucky ; and from 
this latter union a portion of the Breckenridges of that State, and 
other familiar names in Kentuckian history, have descended. 

The second John Floyd, having returned permanently to Vir- 
ginia, married Letitia Preston, daughter of William Preston, the 
surveyor, a lady widely noted for extraordinary intellectual gifts 
and attainments. He was by profession a physician, and was 
highly and widely esteemed in that character. But he soon be- 
came prominent in politics, and was for a long time a represent- 
ative in Congress from Southwestern Virginia. He signalized 
himself by his zeal for the occupation of our possessions beyond 
the Rocky Mountains, where the title of the United States was not 
yet indisputably settled. He was regarded as an enthusiast upon 

the subject, and it was owing to his personal popularity with 

50 



786 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 

members, and not to their appreciation of his apparently extrava- 
gant views, that Congress sanctioned the measures taken at his 
instigation in Monroe's administration looking to the establish- 
ment of our title to what is now Oregon and Washington Territo- 
ries ; — measures which secured, in a modern controversy with 
Great Britain, our claim to that valuable domain. Dr. Floyd was 
a zealous advocate of Jackson's election to the Presidency ; who, 
after his inauguration, tendered him tlie office of Governor of the 
Territory on the Pacific in acknowledgment of the services he 
had rendered in that behalf. The appointment was declined ; 
and soon after Dr., or rather Gen., Floyd became Governor of 
Virginia, in 1829, and was the last Governor of that State under 
its first constitution. He was also, in 1831, unanimously elected 
the first Governor under the constitution formed by the State 
Convention which met in 1829. During the latter term of ser- 
vice the nullification movement had its career in South Carolina ; 
and Governor Floyd so far sympathized with it, that he gave 
public notice of his determination not to permit the employment 
of Federal forces against the refractory State without resistance 
from Virginia. He received the compliment of the electoral vote 
of South Carolina for the Presidency in 1833, and died in private 
life a few years afterwards. 

John Buchanan Floyd, the subject of the present memoir, was 
the eldest son of Gen. John Floyd and of Letitia Preston, and the 
grandson of John Floyd, the companion of Daniel Boone and 
George Rogers Clarke in Kentucky, and of Jane Buchanan, the 
Scotch-Irish maiden, who was of the same family of the Buchan- 
ans of Pennsylvania. He was born at Smithfield, the Patton and 
Preston seat in Montgomery county, Virginia, on the 1st day 
of June, 1806. He spent much of his youth in handling the 
axe, the plough, and the rifle, in a country then thinly populated 
and abounding in forest and game. He grew up an athlete and 
a model of manly comeliness. Though his early education was 
not thorough, he was reared in companionship with intelligence 
and literar}'- cultivation, and enjoyed throughout youth the then, 
in that country, rare advantages of an ample and well-selected 
library. The society of his remarkably intellectual mother, and 
of so bold-thinking, experienced and practical a statesman as 
Gen. Floyd, gave grasp and elevation to his mind, and direction 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 787 

to his life. He finally went to Columbia College, South Caro- 
lina, where he graduated in 1829 with high reputation for intel- 
lectual powers. He was a great admirer and a favoured pupil of 
the learned and scientific Dr. Thomas Cooper, who was then 
President of Columbia College. In 1830 he was married to his 
cousin, Sally Buchanan Preston, granddaughter of the William 
Preston before mentioned, and sister of Wm. C. Preston, the 
orator and Senator from South Carolina, who had emigrated to 
that State from South-western Yirginia. The mother of Miss 
Floyd was a niece of Patrick Henry and daughter of Gen. Wm. 
Campbell, of King's Mountain fame. 

Young John B. Floyd settled in the part of Yirginia in which 
he had been born and reared, and engaged in the profession of 
law. He soon moved, however, to Arkansas, with the double 
purpose of pursuing his profession and embarking extensively in 
the business of cotton-planting. The adventure proved disas- 
trous. After losing forty slaves by a malignant fever, he was 
himself taken down with the disease, and was prostrate for many 
months. In the progress of the fever he was once thought for 
several hours to be dead. His wife alone refused to acknowledge 
the trance to be death ; and under the impulse of despairing 
affection, poured a teaspoonfnl of brandy into his throat, which 
elicited faint signs of life. He recovered from the fever, but 
with a permanentl}^ shattered constitution and enfeebled frame. 
These events occurred in 1837; and they, with the financial cri- 
sis which swept over the country in that year, made a wreck of 
his fortune, and changed the course of his life. 

He returned to Yirginia, commenced life anew at Abingdon, 
Washington county, and resumed the profession of law, which 
he practised with diligence and success until he was elected a 
delegate from his county to the General Assembly of Yirginia 
in the year 1847. He immediately took a foremost rank in the 
House of Delegates, and was conspicuous as a leader of what 
was known as the internal improvement party of the Legislature, 
which demanded appropriations from the State treasury in behalf 
of railroads and other public works. 

After serving a single session in the Legislature, he had won so 
high a reputation for ability, that, at the beginning of the next, 
he was elected by the General Assembly to be Governor of the 



788 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 

Commonwealth for the term of three years, which was to com- 
mence on the 1st of January, 1849. As Governor, he was ex 
officio President of the Board of Public Works of the State ; his 
services in which latter capacity were conspicuous, and had a 
marked influence upon the industrial fortunes of Virginia. His 
messages as Governor, and reports as President of the Board of 
Public Works, were distinguished by extraordinary ability, and 
gave hiin high intellectual rank in the State. 

In politics he was a State-Pights Democrat, and he was placed 
on the Electoral ticket of the Democratic party in Virginia in 
each of the three Presidential campaigns which occurred before 
the election of Mr. Buchanan in 1856. He was elected to the 
Legislature in 1855, after a vigorous contest with theKnow-Nothing 
party, and established a reputation for unsurpassed ability as a 
debater at the session of the ensuing winter. Though a subscriber 
to the State-Rights doctrines of 1789, he had not a cordial sym- 
pathy with the men, in or out of Virginia, who were conspicuous 
for extreme secession views. He was generally found in oppo- 
sition to these men in the frequent debates and contests which 
occurred within the organization of the Democratic party in 
Virginia. 

Space is not afforded here for any extensive display of 
the political career of Gov. Floyd. It was important, well 
known to the country, and, at last, brought him prominently into 
the crisis that was pregnant with war. The conspicuous and 
efficient services which he had rendered to the Democratic cause 
in 1856, and the great popularity which he everywhere enjoyed, 
marked him as a fit selection from Virginia for the cabinet of 
Mr. Buchanan ; and the post of Secretary of War w^as accord- 
ingly tendered him, which he accepted. In the letter of Mr. 
Buchanan, inviting Gov. Floyd into his cabinet, he says : 
" I need not specify the principles on which the Administration 
shall be conducted, as these may be found in the resolutions of 
the Cincinnati Convention, so ably enforced by yourself through- 
out the late Presidential canvass." 

The Administration of Mr. Buchanan closed an epoch in 
the career of the American Union. During that period the 
Abolition party consummated the efforts which they had indus- 
triously persisted in for a quarter of a century, by carrying the 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 789 

national elections on sectional issues, and in securing a sectional 
ascendancy in the Government of the Union. The Administra- 
tion of Mr. Buchanan was too conservative to obtain the support 
of the Southern party ; while it encountered at every step of its 
career the fierce and bitter hostility of the Northern. Unfortu- 
nately the constitutional timidity of Mr. Buchanan, no less than 
his moderation as a statesman, repelled from his support the 
men of ardent temperament whom the hot temper of the times 
had thrust into Congress ; most of them from the South, but 
many from the North. The result was, tliat while his Admin- 
istration was constantly assaulted, it found no organization of 
defenders in Congress ; and the members of his Cabinet were 
dependant each upon his personal influence, for such vindication 
as the violence of party rancour rendered constantly necessary. 

It is not within the design of the writer to detail the services 
of Gov. Floyd in Mr. Buchanan's Cabinet, except with reference 
to the question of secession and war. The routine of his Admin- 
istration drew upon him censures, whicli it is not necessary now 
to discuss, as it is his political attitude before the war which 
claims our attention. It may be said generally that he was one 
of the most influential members of the Cabinet, and was confes- 
sedly one of the most popular. He possessed the personal good- 
will of all who came into personal relation with him ; and his 
conceded talents and prominence had constituted him a target 
for the shafts of the Opposition. While known to be one of the 
staun chest supporters of Mr. Buchanan's measures, he was yet 
on terms of friendship with Mr. Douglas and his leading adhe- 
rents. While one of the most decided and pronounced repre- 
sentatives of Southern opinion, he was justly believed by the 
Abolition party to be attached to the Union, and incapable, 
without compulsion, of entertaining sentiments sinister to its 
integrity. 

There could be no better index of the real sentiments of Secre- 
tary Floyd on the subject of the Union than is afforded at as late a 
date as November, 1860, by a private diary which he kept for a 
few days at that period, and which was never seen or read by 
other person than himself for several years after it was written. 
It was probably forgotten by himself. Among his private papers 
examined after his death, the fragment of a diary was found, 



790 MAJ.-GEN". JOHN B. FLOYD. 

written in his own hand, which is now extant, and which is here 
copied entire : 

"private DIAKT of secret ARY FLOYD. 

" Washington City, Nov. 1, 1860. 

" I have scarcely taken a memorandum of any event whicli 
has occurred since the commencement of the Administration of 
Mr. Buchanan and my entry upon the duties of Secretary of 
War, on the 4th of March, 1857. Many transactions worthy of 
note liave transpired during that time ; but such as particularly 
interested me I have carefully laid up in my memory, for my 
own reflection, and with that I think the usefulness of annals 
ceases. 

" But recent and daily-occurring events are of so much im- 
portance, and bid fair to be attended with such momentous con- 
sequences to the country, that I have determined to make notes 
of some incidents likely hereafter to prove of special interest. 

" Yesterday, the 6th IsTovember, was election-day for Presi- 
dent and Vice-President of the United States. The candidates 
elected are Abraham Lincoln, of Blinois, and Hannibal Hamlin, 
of Maine. These men were nominated and elected by the peo- 
ple of the non-slave-holding States, without consultation or 
reference, in any shape, to the slave-holding parts of the Con- 
federacy. Such are the facilities of intercommunication and the 
transmission of intelligence, that we are already apprised at the 
seat of government of the result of the election within four and 
twenty hours after it was over. 

"In consequence of the purely sectional character of the elec- 
tion, and above all from the avowed principles of uncompromis- 
ing hostility proclaimed by the successful party to Slavery as it 
now exists in the South — the result of this election has produced, 
even in anticipation, a profound sensation. Information has 
already reached here that a deep feeling of excitement has been 
created at Charleston, South Carolina. 

"The President wrote me a note this evening, alluding to a 
rumour which reached the city, to the effect that an armed force 
had attacked and carried the forts in Charleston harbour. He 
desired me to visit him, which I did, and assured him that the 
rumour was altogether without foundation, and gave it as my 
opinion that there was no danger of such an attempt being made. 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 791 

" We entered upon a general conversation npon the subject 
of disunion^ and discussed the probabilities of it pretty fully. 
We concurred in the opinion that all indications from the South 
looked as if disunion was inevitable. He said that whilst his 
reason told him there was great danger, yet his feelings repelled 
the conviction of his mind. 

" Judge Black, the Attorney-General, was present during a 
part of the conversation, and indicated an opinion, that any 
attempt at disunion by a State should be put down by all the 
power of the government. 

"November 8. — The majorities for Lincoln ascertained to-day 
seem to be far beyond any calculations, and indicate that the sen- 
timent of the Korth is overwhelming in favor of the principles of 
anti-slavery, upon which Lincoln's party is organized, 

" I had a long conversation to-day with Gen. Lane, the candi- 
date for Yice-President on the ticket with Mr. Breckenridge. 
He was grave and extremely earnest ; said that resistance to 
the anti-slavery feeling of the North was hopeless, and that 
nothing was left to the South but " resistance or dishonour ;" that 
if the South failed to act with promptness and decision in vindi- 
cation of her rights she would have to make up her mind to give 
up first her honour and then her slaves. He thought disunion 
inevitable, and said when the hour came that his services 
could be useful, he would offer them unhesitatingly to the South. 
I called to see the President this evening, but found him at the 
State Department engaged upon his message, and did not see 
him. Miss Lane returned last evening from Philadelphia, where 
she had been for some time on a visit. 

" Mr. W. H. Trescott, Assistant Secretary of State, called to 
see me this evening, and conversed at length upon the condition 
of things in South Carolina, of which State he is a native. He 
expressed no sort of doubt whatever of his State separating from 
the Union. He brought me a letter from Mr. Drayton, the agent 
of the State, proposing to buy ten thousand muskets for the use 
of the State. 

"November 9. — This has been a busy and very important day. 
I had visits from some of the army oflicers, chiefly about the busi- 
ness of the Department. I cut down some of the estimates for 
the ensuing year, and looked carefully over them all. A Cabi- 



792 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 

net meeting was held as usual at one o'clock ; all the members 
were present, and the President said the business of the meeting 
was the most imi3ortant ever before the Cabinet since his induc- 
tion into office. The question, he said, to be considered and dis- 
cussed, was as to the course the Administration should advise 
liim to pursue in relation to the threatening aspect of aifairs in 
the South, and most particularly in South Carolina. After a con- 
siderable amount of desultory conversation, he asked the opinions 
of each member of the Cabinet as to what should be done or said 
relative to a suggestion which he threw out. His suggestion was 
that a proposition should be made for a general convention of 
the States, as provided for under the constitution, and to propose 
some plan of compromising the angry disputes between the North 
and the South. He said if Tms were done, and the North or 

NON-SLAVEHOLDING StATES SHOULD REFUSE IT, THE SoUTH WOULD 
STAND JUSTIFIED BEFORE THE WHOLE WORLD FOR REFUSING LONGER 
TO REMAIN IN A CONFEDERACY WHERE HER RIGHTS WERE SO SHAME- 
FULLY VIOLATED. He said he was compelled to notice at length 
the alarming condition of the country, and that he would not 
shrink from the duty. 

" Gen. Cass spoke with earnestness and much feeling about 
the impending crisis — admitted fully all the great wrongs and 
outrages which had been committed against the South b}'- North- 
ern fanaticism, and deplored it. Bat he was emphatic in liis 
condemnation of the doctrine of secession by any State from the 
Union. He doubted the efficacy of the appeal for a convention, 
but seemed to think it might do well enough to try it. He spoke 
warmly in favour of using force to coerce a State that attempted 
to secede. 

"Judge Black, the Attorney-General, was emphatic in his 
advocacy of coercion, and advocated earnestly the propriety of 
sending at once a strong force into the forts in Charleston Har- 
bour, enough to deter if possible the people from any attempt at 
disunion. He seemed to favour the idea of an appeal for a general 
convention of all the States. 

" Gov. Cobb, the Secretary of the Treasury, declared his very 
decided approbation of the proposition, for two reasons — first, 
that it afforded the President a great opportunity for a high and 
statesmanlike treatment of the whole subject of agitation, and the 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. Y93 

proper remedies to prevent it; secondly, because, in his judg- 
ment, the failure to procure that redress which the South would 
be entitled to and would demand (and that failure he thought 
certain), would tend to unite the entire South in a decided 
disunion movement. He thought disunion inevitable, and under 
present circumstances, most desirable. 

" Mr. Holt, the Postmaster-General, thought the proposition 
for the convention dangerous, for the reason, that if the call should 
be made, and it should fail to procure redress, those States which 
now are opposed to secession, might find themselves inclined, 
from a feeling of honour, to back the States resolving on dis- 
union. Without this common demand and common failure, 
he thought there would be no such danger of united action, 
and therefore a stronger prospect of some future plan of recon- 
ciliation. 

" Mr. Thompson, the Secretary of the Interior, thought well 
of the plan of calling for a general convention — thought his State 
(Mississippi) about equally divided between the Union and Dis- 
union men. He deprecated the idea of force, and said any show 
of it by the Government would instantly make Mississippi a 
unit in favour of disunion. 

" Mr. Toucey, Secretary of the Navy, thought well of the ap- 
peal for the convention — coincided in an opinion I had expressed, 
that retaliatory State measures would prove most availing for 
bringing the Northern fanatics to their senses. I expressed my- 
self decidedly opposed to any rash movement, and against the 
idea of secession at this time. I did so because I think that Lin- 
coln's administration will fail, and be regarded as impotent for 
good or evil, within four months after his inauguration. We 
are to meet to-morrow at one o'clock. 

" November 10th. — The day has been gloomy and lowering, 
with a cold north-east rain. I dispatched the business of the 
War-Office. Gen. James, of Rhode Island, and Capt. Mayna- 
dier, of the ordnance, were with me for some time to-day, talking 
of the projectile for cannon invented by Gen. James. Recent 
experiments have been made with them in rifled cannon, and the 
success seems to have been complete. The shooting surpasses 
anything ever known before. 

" We had a Cabinet meeting to-day, at which the President 



794 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 

read a very elaborate document, prepared either as a part of his 
Message, or as a proclamation. It was well written in the main, 
and met with extravagant commendation from Gen. Cass, Gov. 
Toucey, Judge Black, and Mr. Holt. Cobb, Thompson, and 
myself found much to differ from in it. Cobb, because it incul- 
cated submission to Lincoln's election, and intimated the use of 
force to coerce a submission to his rule ; and because it repre- 
hended the policy of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Thompson, 
because of the doctrine of acquiescence, and the hostility to the 
secession doctrine. I objected to it because I think it misses 
entirely the temper of the Southern people, and attacks the true 
State rights doctrine on the subject of secession. I do not see 
what good can come of the paper, as prepared, and I do see how 
much mischief may flow from it. 

" Beach, Thompson, and Cobb came over with me from 
Cabinet and stayed, taking informally a family dinner. The 
party was free and communicative ; Toucey would not stay for 
dinner. Mr. Pickens, late Minister to Russia, came in after din- 
ner, with Mr. Trescott, Assistant Secretary of State, and sat an 
hour, talking about the distracted state of public feeling at 
the South. He seemed to think the time had come for decisive 
measures to be taken by the South. 

" ISTovember 11th. — I spent an hour at the President's, where 
I met Thompson, Robert McGraw, and some others ; we sat 
around the tea-table, and discussed the disunion movements of 
the South. This seems to be the absorbing topic everywhere. 

"Kovember 12th. — Dispatched the ordinary business of the 
Department ; dined at five o'clock ; Mr. Pickens, late Minister 
to Russia, Mr. Trescott, Mr. Secretary Thompson, Mr. McGraw, 
Mr. Browne, editor of the Constitution, were of the party. The 
chief topic of discussion was, as usual, the excitement in the 
South. The belief seemed to be that disunion was inevitable ; 
Pickens, usually very cool and conservative, was excited and 
warm. My own conservatism seems in these discussions to be 
unusual and almost misplaced. 

"November 13th. — We had a long session of the Cabinet 
to-day. The President read a good paper, suggesting a conven- 
tion of the States for an amicable adjustment of pending diffi- 
cnlties. He is uncertain as to whether he shall make it a pro- 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 795 

clamation, or part of liis Message. Stocks of every kind are 
rapidly depreciating, and fears are now entertained that the banks 
will suspend specie payments."* 

These minutes are too explicit to leave any doubt of the senti- 
ments of Secretary Floyd on the question of secession. In more 
than one public letter his position was so intelligibly made known 
that none could misunderstand it. He desired the preservation 

* This Private Diary of Secretary Floyd brings up the question of the objects of 
the war. It is a question which has since been enlightened ; and the benefit of these 
new lights may as well be given here to the reader. 

It must be confessed that although Mr. Floyd had a singularly acute mind, and 
was a head and shoulders above the Southern politicians of his day, he even fell 
below a just and full conception of the issue of the war involved, and the object it 
should have distinctly declared. Indeed, none of the Southern leaders comprehended 
the vital and dominant idea of the war, and obtained its proper inspiration — and, per- 
haps, least of all Jefferson Davis himself. With them it appears to have been simply 
a desire to separate from the "Washington Administration — a blind instinct to get 
away from the existing government. This view was imperfect and paltry enough ; 
according to it, the war was simply to determine a choice between two governments, 
both after the same model (rather one a servile and weak copy of the other), and 
these might be logically reduced to a declaration of preference between two rival 
administrations, one at Richmond and one at Washington. Indeed, such an interpre- 
tation of the object of the war is ultimately resolved into the mere personal ambition 
of leaders ; and in view of it the charge would be perfectly just that it had been 
brought on by men who, no longer able to rule iu the established routine, had sought 
a new sphere of authority and a new theatre of political aspiration. 

Not less paltry, and quite as popular, was another idea of the war — that the South 
fought for its property interest in so-called slavery. If this were true, then the war 
was for the marked benefit of a class, and might be truly stigmatized by the phrase 
somtimes applied by the tongue of the demagogue — "the rich man's quarrel and the 
poor man's fight." Indeed, the just and philosophical historian will be compelled to 
declare that the Southern people fought for four years one of the most sanguinary 
wars of modern times, without a clear and just idea of the object of the struggle, and 
that in proportion to the uncertainty, the proper inspiration of the war was lost or 
diminished. It is the distinct idea and definite purpose which obtain success in the 
civil convulsion ; and it was thus that the Abohtion party in the North, obtaining a 
clear premise in the argument, and advancing with irrefragable logic on a series of 
measures, ultimately obtained control at Washington, and ascended to power through 
the commotions of the war. 

It has remained for the sequel of the war to reveal clearly its object, and to 
explain the cause for which the South fought. That cause now appears to be plainly 
enough the great cause of the white man's civilization on this continent, "the 
white man's government " in America, against MongreUsm and all its attendant curses 
and consequent evils, involving our whole destiny as a people. This is the great 
American question now rising above all other disputes, and suspending every con- 
sideration of national welfare until it is decided ; which seems to have been uncom- 



796 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 

of the Union. He was opposed to secession. He thought the 
latter almost inevitable ; but he was in favour of employing every 
possible expedient for averting or postponing it. 

It was known to those who were intimate with him, that it 
was by reluctant steps he arrived at the opinion that it might be 
well, if bloodshed could be avoided, to let secession actually take 

prehended by the South when she first appealed to arms, and to have been but a 
most imperfect apparition in the early political history of the country. We can now 
see that the discussion of the so-called slavery question in the South which preceded 
the war, was a dim and partial one, and that the great mistake was committed in 
allowing the Abolition party to assume too freely — what was then regarded as a 
mere dogma of curious philosophy — the natural equality of races. Int;tead of this 
being, as many former politicians of the South supposed, a mere speculative refine- 
ment, which they might indulge without endangering the main argument for 
" slavery," it stands to-day, the one clear assumption from which the Abolitionists 
have drawn, by legitimate consequences and unimpeachable logic, step by step, every 
article of their creed and every measure of their policy. The South is coming to 
understand this now, and to see the mistake it committed in not fighting Abohtion 
on its first premise ; in giving that up, and then trying to avoid its logical conclu- 
sions. The fault on the part of the South, running through the whole " slavery " 
discussion, was that it invariably made the controversy on subordinate grounds, 
instead of standing at the threshold of the argument, on the firm first principle that 
so-called " slavery " was simply the law of the negro's inferiority in race, and, there- 
fore, his natural and best condition, and therefore a proper adjustment of the social 
order, to destroy which would be impious and revolutionary. 

It is easy enough now to see the logical sequitur on the other side. Once admit 
that the negro is only the coloured man, that is, the equivalent of the white man 
wrapped in a black skin, and it follows that " slavery" was an outrage on his order 
of humanity ; it follows that Abolition was a duty to accomplish, at all events ; it 
follows that, translated to freedom, the negro is to be fully endowed with every right 
and privilege of citizenship ; it follows that having been a victim of outrage in his 
former condition, he is even to be rewarded beyond the white citizen, and to become 
an object of peculiar sympathy and solicitude ; in fine, it follows that his distinction 
as a "slave" having ceased, all other distinctions are unjust and impossible, and 
that once out of bonds, he is entitled to the full panoply of citizenship. "We may 
deplore these conclusions, but we cannot resist them, as long as they are logically 
derived from the premise we admit. The Abolition party is not one wliose mere 
reasoning can be attacked ; it is in its position to-day at Wasliington, one of the most 
faultlessly logical parties iu the pohtical history of America ; and the only means to 
combat it is to go back to first principles and make the fight at its premises. 

And here we observe a recurrence of that partial and imperfect entertainment of 
the question at issue, apparent before the war in the discussion of " negro slavery," 
by the leading minds of the South. It is the same disposition to run into secondary 
controversies. There are men, otherwise intelligent, in the South, who, since the 
war, have consoled themselves with the vague idea that although " slavery " is abol- 
ished, the negro may be left in some nondescript middle condition, short of full citi- 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 797 

place ; for then, affairs having come to a crisis, and both parties 
to the quarrel having realized the solemnity of the case, an hon- 
ourable and permanent adjustment of the matters of difference 
between them would be rendered more practicable. He did not 
then contemplate the contingency that the Abolition party might 
make coercive war the means of securing a party triumph. 

About the middle of December, the Cabinet of Mr. Buchanan 
had already undergone changes. Gen. Cass had resigned ; so 



zenship and complete social equality. But there is nothing short of this ; the logic 
of the party that has made the negro free, forbids any third condition for him ; and 
it is good logic, inexorable in its demands and impossible to dispute. Either the 
negTO must be restored to his former condition, or take his place in the political and 
social circle of the free and equal citizens of Republican America. 

And this is the great single question, involving every interest of civilization in 
America, embracing the whole society, and suspending as it "were the future life of 
the nation — Shall the negro (either by the slow return of the sense of the community, 
or possibly by a reaction of political parties) be returned to the former natural normal 
condition for which the Creator designed him, and in which he has been placed by a 
course of Divine Providence running through several centuries, that of servitude to 
the white man (not slavery) ; or shall we take him into fuU partnership and society 
with us, accept the conclusion of Mongrelism, and give over the country to inter- 
minable disorder and mevitable ruin? A great question which the war did not 
decide — a question which, indeed, so far from deciding, it has simply eviscerated and 
exposed — a question which, in some senses, we may hope it has better developed for 
the understanding of the people. 

If so, it has served a great and good purpose. There is this consolation for the 
Southern leaders : that although they may have acted from a bhnd instiact, or from 
imperfect conceptions in going to war, yet it was a movement in the right direction, 
to wliich it is not too late, even now, to give the interpretation of the defence of 
white government and white civilization on this continent. That defence is not yet 
terminated ; the combat yet continues ; and so far from the nation having washed 
its hands of the negro question in the blood of the last war, it is only coming to the 
full entertainment of it. The question remains ; it may occupy years ; it involves 
every interest and care of society; it invites to new exercise the strong and ingenious 
mind of the South ; and the time may yet come when the sense of the nation, recoil- 
ing from the negro, reacting from the violent experiments of the party in power, and 
finding no possible recourse but the return of the negro to his former condition, may 
realize for the South that she has not made aU the subhme sacrifices of the war in 
vain, but has actually obtained through it a real and substantial triumph at the last, 
which will be more enduring in proportion as it may be the ultimate end of a con- 
troversy, rather than the unsteady conclusion of a four years' combat of arms. The 
history of that combat was hastily entitled by this writer " The Lost Cause." If he 
cannot recall a designation too readily taken for convenience, he may put on another 
political work, the frame of which is already in his mind, the just and happy title of 
' The Lost Cause Regained." 



798 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 

had Mr. Cobb. It had begun to be irksome either for a man of 
decided Kortliern or of decided Southern pohtics to adhere to it. 
The Southern Senators and Representatives had drawn off from 
its support and defence. The Northern were nearly all in oppo- 
sition. A few Northern Democrats were the only adherents that 
it could boast. But Governor Floyd felt it his duty to remain in 
the Cabinet, being satisfied that Mr. Buchanan was honestly 
intent upon preventing a state of war between his government 
and the Southern States. lie addressed himself with great 
assiduity to the task of repressing the disposition manifested to 
take forcible possession of the forts and arsenals within their 
limits. There were no troops available for the protection of this 
species of property ; and if small detachments had been distri- 
buted in these places, the unusual proceeding would have been 
iregarded as a menace, and would have provoked an immediate 
capture. The administration, about this time, had come to an 
understanding with the Southern Congressmen and Governors that 
the status quo should be preserved, and that acts giving either 
party a military advantage should be mutually abstained from 
with scrupulous care. The leading object on either side was to 
prevent collision. The administration was not only justifiable in 
entering into such an engagement, but it was bound to do some- 
thing equivalent. Both houses of Congress had then raised com- 
mittees, charged, as similar ones had been in 1820 and 1850, with 
the duty of devising some measure of settlement ; and it would 
have been highly improper in the administration to send troops 
into the forts, or to commit any other act of war. Such an act 
would have been resisted, and war would thus have been com- 
menced ; a civil war, for avoiding which any act of abstinence 
was excusable. 

A most explict understanding was had between Governor 
Pickens and the Congressmen from South Carolina on one side, 
and Secretary Floyd and Mr. Buchanan on the other, that no act 
of war should be committed by either party with reference to the 
forts in Charleston harbour, while' negotiations for a settlement 
were going on. This stipulation was felt to be the more sacred 
by Secretary Floyd, because of his personal relations of friendship 
with Governor Pickens and other gentlemen of South Carolina, 
whom he had known from youth ; representing as they did a State 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. T99 

to which he was fondly attached, notwithstanding his disinclination 
to the step she had taken. What, therefore, was his surprise and 
distress to hear, during the pendency of this agreement, on the 
26th of December, that Major Anderson, commanding at Fort 
Moultrie, had in the night-time transferred his command from 
that fortress to Fort Sumter ! Fort Moultrie was accessible from 
the main-land, and could have been captured long before, but 
for the agreement that had been mentioned ; Fort Sumter was 
distant from the main-land, and situated at a commanding point 
in the midst of the harbour, from which it commanded the city 
of Charleston, and much of the surrounding country. It was a 
stolen march, a military movement ; a step taken for the delib- 
erate purpose of gaining a fort incapable of being captured, and 
commanding the city which for weeks had held Fort Moultrie in 
its power. 

The breach of faith had been palpable ; and Secretary Floyd 
believed that it had been inspired from Washington. It only 
remained to be seen whether the Administration would make 
itself a party to the dereliction. Some expression used by him- 
self in an order sent to Major Anderson, was vouched as having 
authorized the step taken by that officer. It was therefore more 
necessary that the disavowal should be explicit, and reparation 
complete. The South Carolina commissioners insisted upon 
the withdrawal of the troops altogether from Charleston har- 
bour. The ordeal was too severe for Mr. Buchanan. He 
feared the clamour of the North. At the meeting of the Cabinet 
held on the 27th of December, Secretary Floyd read the follow- 
ing paper : 

"Council CHAMBsn, Executive Mansion. 

"It is evident now, from the action of the commander at Fort 
Moultrie, that the solemn pledges of this government have been 
violated by the action of Major Anderson. In my judgment, but 
one remedy is now left us by which to vindicate our honour and 
prevent civil war. It is in vain now to hope for confidence on 
the part of the people of South Carolina, in any farther pledges 
as to the action of the military. One remedy only is left, and 
that is to withdraw the garrison from the harbour of Charleston 
altogether. I hope the President will allow me to make that 



800 MAJ.-GEN". JOHN B. FLOYD. 

order at once. This order in my judgment can alone prevent 
bloodshed and civil war. 

" John B. Floyd, Secretary of "War. 

" December 27, 1860." 

Mr. Buchanan's courage was not equal to the occasion. He 
had pledged his faith ; and to make good the engagement of a 
President of the United States, he should have been willing to 
tear down the forts, if necessary.* A great government can 
afibrd to make any material sacriiice for its reputation. 

Mr. Buchanan declined. He declined in a petulant manner. 
There was left but one thing further for Secretary Floyd to do ; 
and that was to resign. On the 31st December, he was notified 
by Mr. Buchanan that his resignation was accepted. 

Mr. Floyd's resignation upon a demand for the evacuation of 
the Charleston harbours, coupled with the popular idea that he 
had distributed public arms in large numbers through the South, 
for the purpose of aiding the secession movement, excited a fierce 
popular clamour against him throughout the North. The Eepub- 
lican party turned upon him with intense vindictiveness, and it 
was under the influence of this hue and cry that a committee 
raised in Congress to investigate the disposition of some Indian 
Trust Bonds, made assaults upon his personal character which 
were refuted as far as the evidence could go. It is not to be 
denied that he deeply resented this treatment, and that he was thus 
led to study more thoroughly than others the real purposes and 
temper of the party which had secured the control of government. 
Accordingly, always afterwards, until the day of his death, he 
ceased not to warn the South against the fatal errour of believing 
that the war which was wantonly forced upon the country by 
the Lincoln government would be a short one ; and he published 
it to all who could be made to hear, that secession could not be 

* Mr. Buchanan denies in his book that he was a party to this pledge. The denial 
comes after the medium of it is dead. But the circumstances are against him. What 
but such a pledge, believed by the other side to have been given, could have with- 
held the South Carolinians from capturing Fort Moultrie and its garrison ? Tacitly 
to accept the benefit of a pledge given by another, is an impUcation in the pledge. 
His denial ought to have been made public at the time of the publication of Secretary 
Floyd's resignation. Mr. Buchanan's letter accepting the resignation neither makes 
nor suggests a denial. 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 801 

consummated except after a long, doubtful, sanguinary, and 
exhausting contest. 

After leaving Washington and returning to his residence in 
Virginia, he had no connection, direct or indirect, with the polit- 
ical action of the South, by which the measure of secession was 
inaugurated, and a Southern Confederacy organized. He 
remained in private life until after the various steps in the pro- 
gramme had been fully and finally taken. 

He was appointed a Brigadier-General by President Davis, in 
May, 1861, and received instructions to recruit and organize a 
brigade for the Confederate Army in Southwestern Yirginia. 
This service he performed by July ; and then, in pursuance of 
orders, he proceeded to the region of the Kanawha river. The 
Federal authorities had sent a considerable army under Gen. 
Cox into the Kanawha valley, which had proceeded up the river 
by a column on each bank, each column outnumbering the small 
body of Confederate troops which opposed them, under the com- 
mand of Gen. "Wise. Gen. Floyd marched his brigade across the 
Gauley, a considerable northern tributary to the Kanawha river ; 
and, in the morning of the 26th of August, surprised and attacked 
a Federal force at Cross Lanes, which was endeavouring to get 
into the Confederate rear by a circuit. He defeated and utterly 
dispersed the enemy with a heavy loss in killed and wounded ; 
his own loss being nothing. He remained beyond the Gauley, 
and took a strong position in the bend of the river at Carnifax 
Ferry. Here Gen. Rosecrans — suddenly quitting the front of 
Gen. Lee near Cheat Mountain, and reinforced from the direction 
of Weston — fell upon him, by a forced march, on the 10th of 
September. The force of Gen. Floyd consisted of about 2,500 
infantry, and a company of artiller3^ The engagement was a 
very hot one, and the loss of the enemy fearful. Floyd's position 
was strong, and his troops were protected by barricades ; so that 
his own loss was small. He had but one man killed. His own 
right arm was shattered by a ball, while elevated, giving orders 
to his men. The assault of Gen. Rosecrans failed. His rapid 
march was checked. Floyd fought from 3 o'clock until after 
dark ; and drew off across the Gauley, in the course of the 
night, in order to put himself within supporting distance of Gen. 
Wise. Rosecrans did not move forward for several days, and 

51 



802 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 

Gen, Lee had time to place himself in his front on Sewell Moun- 
tain. The two Confederate Generals, Floyd and Wise, fell back 
leisurely before the two armies of E-osecrans and Cox ; "Wise 
halting at a strong position on the top of Sewell ; Floyd proceed- 
ing twelve miles farther, to Meadow Bluff, in the hope of 
enticing the enemy to a battle, with the difficult mountain in their 
rear. 

At Sewell, Gen. Lee joined Generals Floyd and Wise with 
the bulk of his army from Cheat Mountain ; and Rosecrans not 
only relinquished his ]3urpose of attacking, but finally withdrew 
towards the mouth of the Gauley. Gen. Lee thereupon sent his 
own forces to their original theatre of action, and went himself 
to Richmond ; whither Gen. Wise soon followed him with a part 
of his command. Gen. Floyd, after that, in order to be able to 
check an advance of Rosecrans, on the line on which he was 
posted, crossed to the south bank of the Kanawha, and took 
position on Cotton Hill, opposite the mouth of Gauley, whence his 
guns commanded the road by which Rosecrans obtained his sup- 
plies. Ilere he maintained his position until about the first of 
December, completely succeeding in his object of preventing the 
advance of an army 12,000 to 14,000 strong, with a force of less 
than 4,000, until the winter had set in. By December, the con- 
dition of the mountain roads compelled his withdrawal to some 
position nearer to his base of supplies, which was Dublin, in 
Pulaski County. 

While on his march in this direction, he received an order to 
transfer his command to Bowling Green, in Kentucky, where he 
was to report to Gen. A. S. Johnston. He reached Bowling 
Green early in January, with about 2,500 troops, having left a 
portion of his command for the defence of Southwestern Vir- 
ginia. At Bowling Green he found Gen. Johnston, with an 
army of about 30,000 men, successfully engaged in impressing 
Gen. Buell, his adversary, with the belief that the Confederate 
force exceeded his own. Gen. Floyd wrote from Bowling Green 
to a friend in the Congress at Richmond, a letter which was pub- 
lished, in which he declared that the war was about to become a 
fearful one in its proportions, and in the determination actuating 
both parties to it ; that the Confederacy should immediately 
take the most stringent measures for increasing its armies ; that 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 803 

Gen. A. S. Johnston ought to be reinforced by 75,000 men ; and 
that the European plan of conscription ought to be at once put 
in force in the Confederacy. Mr. Seward, at Washington, and Mr. 
Benjamin, at Richmond, were both about the same time assev- 
erating that the war would be over in ninety days. 

Early in February, 18G2, Gen. Johnston found it no longer 
practicable to conceal the weakness of his force from his adver- 
sary. Moreover, Gen. Grant began to bring forward a new Fed- 
eral army from the direction of Cairo. It was therefore neces- 
sary for Gen. Johnston to retire from his exposed and advanced 
position in Kentucky. In order to make good his retreat, it was 
necessary to hold Grant in check at Fort Donelson, on the 
Tennessee River, as long as possible. Gen. Buckner was 
accordingly sent there with a considerable body of Kentucky 
troops. The movement of Grant making the case exigent, he 
afterwards ordered Gen. Floyd, who had then reached Clarks- 
ville, on the Tennessee, to go down to Fort Donelson and to give 
aid in holding that position as long as practicable. Gen. Buck- 
ner had found Gen. Pillow at the fort, with a few hundred Ten- 
nessee troops. Gen. Floyd's command, which arrived after the 
enemy had appeared before the place, swelled the aggregate 
force assembled for the defence of the fort to about 10,000 
effective men, exclusive of a regiment of cavalry posted near 
by, under Col. Forest. There were badly located earthworks at 
the so-called " fort," mounted with heavy cannon, only a few of 
which proved effective upon trial. 

The object of the Confederates in holding the place was to 
stay the advance of Grant as long as possible. Gen. Floyd had 
first been ordered to observe the course of the Cumberland River 
above, towards Nashville, with a view of planting batteries at 
some point less exposed than Donelson, which might serve to 
check the progress of gunboats. While engaged in this recon- 
noissance. Grant arrived at Donelson. Gen. Floyd reached the 
beleaguered fort at daybreak, on the 13th, just as the enemy 
commenced his attack. As ranking officer, coming into the 
action after it had virtually commenced, he naturally and neces- 
sarily deferred much to those who had been for some days on the 
spot. The object of the Confederates was to cover the retreat 
of Johnston from Bowling Green, and then make good their own 



804 MA.T.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 

escape ; that of Grant was to envelop the place with his superiour 
force, and capture the whole of the inadequate little army 
defending it, with as little delay as possible. Fort Donelson was 
only a fort in name. It was simply a place on the left bank of 
the Cumberland River, at which earthworks had been erected 
and cannon planted with the single view of resisting the upward 
passage of gunboats. The troops supporting these batteries were in 
the open field, protected during the fight only by such rifle-pits as 
they could form after the fighting commenced, in the intervals 
between the assaults. Grant assailed these troops with an army 
at least four times their number, at the same time that he sent 
his gunboats up the river against the batteries. The fighting 
lasted through four days and nights in severe winter weather ; 
the Confederate troops having no time for rest or sleep. The 
conflict was one of the most sanguinary and stubborn that 
occurred during the war. The loss on each side was very heavy, 
both in killed and wounded. Gen. Grant was heavily reinforced 
during each day of the action. ISTo reinforcements were within 
reach of the Confederates, and none expected or hoped for. At 
the arrival of Gen. Floyd, it had been plain that the assailing 
force was so large as to forbid the hope of doing more than to 
extricate the Confederate army from the trap in which it found 
itself; and all the fighting that ensued was simply an efibrt on 
its part to cut its way out. The battle began early on the 13th. 
By the night of the 16th, it was decided that the army could 
not be extricated. Saving the whole being impossible, the 
next question was as to saving a part. Gen. Floyd's com- 
mand occupied the ground highest up the river, and nearest the 
point of possible exit ; that command could be got out ; none of 
the rest could. It had been taken from another duty and sent 
there to assist those specially assigned to the task, in holding the 
place. A council of the principal ofiicers was held on the night 
of the 16th, when it was determined that the destruction of life 
attendant upon further efibrt at extrication Avould be too great 
to be thought of. Gen. Buckner, commanding the Kentucky 
troops, who constituted the bulk of the force, and who were in 
deep despondency at the recent evacuation of their State, put 
the case so strongly that no one could gainsay his proposition : 
it was to sacrifice three-fourths, in order to save one-fourth. As 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 805 

to Gen. Floyd, he says of tlie affair : " I felt that in this contin- 
gency, whilst it might be questioned whether I should, as com- 
mander of the army, lead it to certain destruction in an unavail- 
ing fight, yet I had a right individually to determine that I would 
not survive a surrender there. To satisfy both propositions, I 
agreed to hand over the command to Gen. Buckner, through 
Gen. Pillow, and to make an effort for my own extrication by 
any and every means that might present themselves to me." He 
succeeded in getting away, during the night, a large part of 
his own command, before the terms of capitulation had been 
made between Gen. Buckner and Gen. Grant. 

He reached Nashville on the 18th, where Gen. A. S. John- 
ston placed him in command of the city during its evacuation.* 
He then proceeded to Murfreesboro, where Gen. Johnston's 
retreating arm}'- had its first rendezvous. Thence he went to Chat- 
tanooga, where he received an order from Richmond, relieving 
him of command. 

The rapid and unexpected success of the Federal armies in 
Kentucky and Tennessee, threw the South into alarm and despond- 
ency. When it became known that Gen. A. S. Johnston had for 
months been in command of less than 30,000 men, great censure 

* An officer of the army, who assisted in the evacuation of Nashville, thus 
describes the admirable conduct and manner of Gen. Floyd on that occasion, with an 
intelUgent glance at the character of the man : 

" I saw a great deal of Gen. Floyd while he was commanding in Nashville, and I 
was remarkably impressed by him. I was required to report to him almost every 
hour in the twenty-four, and he was always surrounded by a crowd of applicants for 
all sorts of favours, and couriers bringing all sorts of news. It was impossible in the 
state of confusion which prevailed to prohibit or regulate this pressing and noisy 
attendance, or to judge, without examination, of what was important to be consid- 
ered. Many matters which ordinarily a general ofBcer would not permit himself to 
be troubled with, might need attention and action from him at such a time. Irasci- 
ble and impetuous as Gen. Floyd seemed to be by nature — his nerves unstrung, too, 
by the fatigues of so many busy days and sleepless nights — and galled as he must 
have been by the constant annoyances, he yet showed no sign of impatience. I saw 
him give way once to anger, which was then provoked by the most stupid and inso- 
lent pertinacity. It was interesting to watch the struggle which would sometimes 
occur between his naturally violent temper and the restraint he imposed upon it. 
His eye would glow, his face and his hps turn pale, and his frame shake with pas- 
sion ; he would be silent for minutes, as if not daring to trust himself to speak, look- 
ing all the while upon the ground, and he would then address the man, whose brusque- 
ness or obstinacy had provoked him, in the mildest tone and manner. He was evi- 
dently endowed with no common nerve, will, and judgment." 



806 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 

was cast upon the Eichmond government. It became necessary 
to divert public attention to some minor issue ; and those who felt 
the popular censure most severely had the address to divert the 
discussion from the question who was responsible for not rein- 
forcing Gen. Albert Johnston with 50,000 or 75,000 men, to the 
question whether Gen. Floyd was justifiable in bringing away 
from Fort Donelson a part of his command after it had become 
impracticable to bring the whole. The great question of states- 
manship and military policy was forgotten, for the pitiful quib- 
ble raised by a few martinets. 

On being relieved from command, Gen. Floyd retired to 
Yirorinia, where he remained inactive but a short time. The 
Legislature of that Commonwealth, indignant at the treatment 
he had received, conferred upon him the commission of Major- 
General, and directed him to recruit and organize a division of 
troops from among the classes not embraced in the Confederate 
conscription. These classes were so restricted that the task was 
not easily performed. By the fall, however, he had succeeded 
in getting together a force of nearl}^ 2,000 men, which he moved 
into the country embracing the liead-waters of the Big Sandy 
River, where he several times surprised the troops of the enemy- 
posted in that quarter, capturing and destroying their depots of 
supplies. His exposure in this service, however, soon threw him 
into ill health, and he was ultimately obliged to return home, to 
occupy for many months what was destined to be a death-bed. 
His disorder finally took the form of cancer, or rather scirrhus 
of the stomach, of which ho died, on the 26th August, 1863. 

Such is a brief memoir of one of the most remarkable men 
of the South, or of his day. His intellect was clear, strong, and 
practical. His forecast of political events was unerring. His 
power over the minds of men when present before him, whether 
singly or collectively, was magical. He was always successful 
with the people when he went before or among thera ; he paid 
no court to politicians, who were for the most part his bitter 
assailants. He was ever loyal in his personal attachments ; he 
was fearless and defiant of his enemies. He had the faculty of 
enlisting the devoted affection of those who knew him ; he was 
much misunderstood by those who did not. He was often 
assailed by good men M^ho were strangers to his real character ; 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. FLOYD. 807 

but from among those wlio knew him well, none ever turned 
upon him but the mean and false. He was peculiarly the friend 
of young men, enconragin gtliem to manly exertion and in hon- 
ourable ambition. He sympathized with the worthy poor, was 
fond of conversing with them, and gave to hundreds a help, of 
which the world knew nothing. His heart was fall of kindly 
affections ; he sought out children wherever he came, and these 
instinctively hung upon and loved him. His habits were frugal, 
and free from all extravagance. Throughout the last twenty- 
five years of his life, his circumstances were straitened ; and, 
after passing through many public trusts, he died as he had lived, 
a poor man. His temperance, both in meat and drink, bordered 
upon abstemiousness; he eschewed betting and gambling, which 
he held in repugnance ; he was a regular attendant upon religious 
worship ; and he died a respected member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, enjoying, in extremis^ the affectionate minis- 
trations and devoted attachment of his minister, who left the 
army and came far to render these grateful offices. This is the 
great and generous character which partisan rancour and sec- 
tional misconceptions have pictured as a monster in treason and 
various criminality. 



LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 



CHAPTER LXXIV. 



His military life before the War of 1861.— His command in the Trans-Mississippi. — 
Ordered to Bowling Green, Kentucky. — At Shiloh.— His views and advice in 
the Kentucky Campaign. — Promoted to a Lieutenant-General. — The first day of 
Murfreesboro, — Reinforcements wanting at a critical time. — Gen. Hardee as an 
organizer of troops. — Religious incidents of his camp.— He joins Johnston's army 
in Mississippi. — Return to the Army of Tennessee. — The battle of Missionary 
Ridge. — Fought against the advice of Gen. Hardee. — He takes charge of Bragg's 
army at Dal ton. — "Why he decUned permanent command of it. — The Atlanta 
campaign. — ^Protest against the appointment of Gen. Hood as Commander-in- 
Chief. — Hardee's desperate fight at Jonesboro. — He is assigned to the command 
of the Department of South CaroUna, Georgia, and Florida.— Condition of this 
Department at the time of Sherman's " march to the sea." — The evacuation of 
Savannah. — Campaign of the Carolinas. — Hardee's fight at Averysboro. — Battle of 
Bentonville. — The General loses a young son in the last affair of arms. — A tribute 
from Arkansas troops to Gen. Hardee. — Estimate of his military record. — His 
virtues as a soldier and a citizen. 

William Joseph Hakdee was born in Camden county, Geor- 
gia, in 1815. He obtained his military education both at West 
Point and at the celebrated cavalry school of Saumaur, in France. 
He was the author of one of the best works on military tactics 
that had ever been published ; and, up to the period of the war 
between the North and the South, his military services had 
extended over more than twenty years. He had served in Florida ; 
he had been stationed on the Western frontier ; he had accompa- 
nied Taylor across the Rio Grande in the Mexican campaign, taken 
part in the siege of Monterey, and in various actions distin- 
guished himself to the gates of Mexico. He was twice brevetted 
" for gallant and meritorious service'' during this war, and came 
out of it Lieutenant-Colonel by brevet. Tliereafter, he was on 
duty on the Texan frontier until 1853 ; in 1855, he was appointed 



LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 809 

Major of the 2d Cavalry ; and the following year he was 
appointed Commandant of the Corps of Cadets at "West Point, 
and filled that office until 1860. Upon being relieved, he 
obtained leave of absence, and was in Georgia at the time of 
the secession of that State. 

He brought to the service of the Southern Confederacy a 
fruitful experience, and a name generally known in military 
circles. He was oflTered by President Davis the position of Adju- 
tant-General of the Army. This he promptly declined in favour 
of more active service. The Provisional Congress authorized 
the appointment of five general officers, and Hardee was one of 
the five upon whom it was intended this rank should be con- 
ferred ; but the arrival of Gen. Cooper, about this time, filled out 
the number to whom the appointments were eventually given. 

Hardee was first assigned to the command of Fort Morgan, 
at the entrance of Mobile Bay ; but in June, 1861, he was sent, 
with the rank of Brigadier-General, to take command in Arkan- 
sas. He commenced his military career with a most brilliant 
design. When Gen. Price was in the heat of his first famous 
campaign in Missouri, and pursuing the victory he had obtained 
at Oak Hills, Gen. Hardee w\is also intent upon a movement 
in that State, which promised the most important results. It 
was to advance through Southeastern Missouri from the Arkansas 
border, havmg his base at Pocahontas ; to unite at Frederickton 
with a column under Pillow, of some 6,000 or 8,000 men, moving 
from New Madrid; to take Ironton, and then, by flanking and 
threatening to get between that place and St. Louis, to compel 
the evacuation of the latter city, or to defeat its garrison in the 
open field. This movement would have cut off and destroyed 
the defeated and routed army of Lyon, then in full flight for 
St. Louis, and made the Confederates masters of the situation in 
Missouri. But the campaign was overruled by other necessities — 
the first instance of that frequent disappointment of decisive 
operations in the West, due to the lack of uniformity and con- 
cert in the plans and actions of the various commanders. It 
was considered at Richmond most important, at that time, to 
occupy and fortify Columbus, in Kentucky, situated on the Mis- 
sissippi River, some twenty-two miles below the mouth of the 
Ohio. This measure, it was thought, would protect the States 



810 LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 

lying along the Mississippi from invasion, by enabling the Con- 
federates to hold the river, as it was by the river only that those 
States could be conveniently reached. Gen. Pillow's forces 
were consequently ordered to that point. Finding that his 
plans were rendered impossible of execution, on account of' 
the want of Gen. Pillow's cooperation, Hardee returned to 
Pocahontas, and was shortly afterwards transferred, witli the 
greater portion of the troops under his command, to the eastern 
side of the river, and was ordered to Bowling Green, as soon as 
that place was occupied. 

From this time the name of Hardee is so constantly associated 
with the Army of the "West, known at various times as the Army 
of the Mississippi and the Army of Tennessee, that to detail his 
career would be to write the almost entire history of that army, 
and consequently to repeat much that has been narrated in other 
parts of this work. A mere enumeration of his services on the 
different fields of the "West is all that the design of our work will 
admit here, or our space afford. The story of the two days of 
Shiloh has already been told. Here Gen. Hardee, as division 
commander, commanded the first line of attack; and at the 
moment of the untimely recall by Gen. Beauregard of the pur- 
suit of the enemy, the advance of Hardee's line was within 400 
yards of Pittsburg Landing, where the fugitives, huddled under 
the banks, were crowding on a steamer which was conveying 
them across the river. Gen. Hardee, necessarily much exposed 
in the fight, was wounded in the arm, had his coat-skirt torn 
away by a cannon-ball, and his horse wounded. In the second 
day's unequal struggle against Buell's reinforcements, the ground 
w^as stubbornly contested for some hours, and Hardee drew off 
his command in the evening to follow up the army, as it retired 
unpursued to Corinth. 

At Tupelo Gen. Beauregard was succeeded by Bragg, who, 
being in charge of a territorial department, assigned Hardee to 
the command of the army. This he retained until the array 
moved from Chattanooga into Kentucky, in August, 1862. There 
were no active military operations at this period, and the duties 
of Commanding General were restricted to those administrative 
offices which are scarcely less important to the efficiency of our 
army than skilful handling in the field. For these Hardee's 



LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 811 

thorough acquaintance with the practical workings of all depart- 
ments of military administration qualified him to a peculiar 
degree. 

In the Kentucky campaign, the two wings of Bragg's army 
were commanded by Polk and Hardee. A cooperative force 
under Kirby Smith had marched from Knoxville, Tennessee, 
through Cumberland Gap. After the capture of Mumfordsville, 
Kentucky, Buell advanced from Nashville to within a few miles 
of Bragg. Hardee was opposed to moving against Buell, believ- 
ing that he would retire to Bowling Green, only a few miles in 
his rear, where the works, whose strength Hardee knew, from 
having constructed them himself, would secure his position. 
But Hardee, whose quick military apprehension estimated at its 
first value the advantage of fighting the enemy cut oif from his 
base of supplies, and with the prestige of the late success on 
the side of the Confederate arms, and who foresaw the injurious, 
moral and material efiect of allowing Buell to march unmolested 
to the supplies and reinforcements awaiting him at Louisville, 
was in favour of giving him battle at some point between Mum- 
fordsville and Louisville. Other reasons overbalanced these in 
the opinion of the Commanding General, and the army moved 
aside and gave Buell undisputed passage to Louisville. Gen. 
Hardee was accustomed to say that the retreat from Kentucky 
dated from this time. 

It is true that the battle of Perry ville, which followed, was a 
Confederate success, so far as beating one corps of the enemy 
(McCook's) was concerned. But the want of forces to follow up 
the success — forces that could have been supplied from Harrods- 
burg, as Hardee had strongly advised in a communication to 
Gen. Bragg — made it a failure as respects the general campaign. 
But one of the four divisions at Harrodsburg was sent to the 
field, and the battle was the partial adoption of Hardee's plan, 
when notliing but its full adoption could assure the expected 
results. It was paying the price of victory with no hope of reap- 
ing its rewards. 

Tiie only question that remained after this battle for the Con- 
federate army was how to get out of Kentucky. It was solved 
successfully ; and the month of December found Bragg's army, 
after having described a circle of 1,500 miles in a little over 70 



812 LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 

days, assembled at Miirfreesboro, Tennessee, to oppose Rose- 
crans, who had succeeded Buell, and arrived with his army at 
Nashville. On reaching Knoxville, in coming out of Kentucky, 
Hardee had been notified of his promotion to the grade of Lieu- 
tenant-General, along with Jackson, Longstreet, Polk, Kirby 
Smith, Holmes, and Pemberton. 

The advance of Rosecrans brought on the battle of Murfrees- 
boro. Here Hardee began the attack with Cleburne's and 
McCown's divisions, surprising McCook's corps, running over it, 
driving the Federal right several miles, and doubling it back on 
the centi'e. At this critical time he called for reinforcements. 
None were sent him. Polk's forces had sufi'ered severely in the 
attack upon the enemy's centre, and Breckinridge was still held 
in reserve on the extreme right. Later in the day the division of 
the latter was sent, brigade at a time, to attack the enemy in 
front of Polk. The only result of their gallant attack was heavy 
loss and utter repulse. If the division had been sent to Hardee, 
who was completely in rear of the Federal army, the victory must 
have been signal. As it was, Hardee's troops had lost heavily and 
were physically exhausted. Cleburne's division, in single line of 
battle, had encountered and overpowered five successive forma- 
tions of the enemy. McCown's division had done equal service. 
They were now confronted by fresh troops of the enemy, formed 
in a railroad cut, which served as a formidable entrenchment, and 
were protected by a park of artillery, which commanded their 
open front. It would have been folly to attack this position 
without fresh troops, and none were to be had. 

Thus ended the battle. Hardee had beaten odds of at least 
three to one, had captured over twenty pieces of artillerj^, several 
thousand prisoners, and arms and munitions in proportion. 
Nothing but the want of support prevented the completion of a 
victoiy which would have been conclusive in its results upon 
the campaign. At the close of the fight, Hardee was in short 
cannon range of the Nashville pike, leading to the rear of the 
Federal army. 

Ilosecrans now sent his trains and wounded to the rear, and 
seemed preparing to retreat. A disaster, resulting from the 
attack of a division of Bragg's army, two days later, changed 
the aspect of afl'airs, and determined Gen. Bragg to draw off his 



LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 813 

army. This was done on the 3d January. The enemy were too 
much crippled to attempt pursuit. 

The Confederate army halted in its inarch from Murfreesboro : 
Polk's corps at Shelby ville, and Hardee's at Tullahoma, and 
remained here during the months of January, February, and 
March, 1863. While here, Hardee, whose industry halted at no 
amount of labour, drilled and inspected every regiment of his 
command. He was probably the only Lieutenant-General in the 
service who personally inspected the arms and accoutrements of 
every soldier of his corps. This he did, with commendation for 
the good soldier and reproof for the careless ; and the knowledge 
that the commander was acquainted with the merits and 
demerits of every soldier was a great spur to soldierly emulation. 

On field-days, ladies were frequently present in numbers, 
and one of the means taken by Hardee to reward good conduct 
on the field, was to call out from each regiment the ofiicers and 
soldiers who had been specially distinguished for gallantry. 
These were introduced, by name, to the ladies, with an account 
of the services which had won them distinction. 

About tlie last of March, Hardee's corps, to secure better 
forage and encampments, was advanced to Wartrace and Bell 
Buckle, in the direction of Murfreesboro. While encamped in 
that beautiful region, the lamented Bishop Elliott, of Georgia, 
made a missionary visit to the army. He camped and messed 
with Hardee, and here began that strong friendship between the 
soldier and the churchman, which grew with each year until the 
death of the latter. There was always a strong religious senti- 
ment pervading the army, and large numbers of soldiers were 
daily assembled under the ministration of the Bishop. The 
place of worship was usually in one of those stately beech groves 
that cover the face of that part of Tennessee, and the pulpit and 
seats were rude and rustic enough to be in keeping with the 
surroundings. The Bishop was of singularly commanding stat- 
ure and presence; his thoughts were clothed in grand, pure old 
English, and his words fell heedful on the ears of the veterans, 
who extended rank after rank, as far as the voice of the speaker 
could reach. Among the audience were such men as Bishop 
Polk, Bragg, Hardee, Breckinridge, Cheatham, and Cleburne. 

The retreat of Gen. Bragg towards Chattanooga, and the 



814 LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 

events that led to the battle of Chickamanga, have been suffi- 
ciently related on other pages of this work. In this battle Gen. 
Hardee did not participate. Shortly after the fall of Vicksburg, 
Yxe received an order from President Davis to proceed to Missis- 
sippi, and report to Gen. Johnston. D. H. Hill was promoted 
to Lieutenant-General, and assigned to his corps. No military 
movements of importance in Mississippi followed the capture of 
Yicksburg, and Johnston's army being too small for organization 
into army corps, Hardee was without command. Until more 
active service should offer, he volunteered to assemble and organ- 
ize the Yicksburg prisoners, who had been paroled and fur- 
loughed, and who, subsequently exchanged, were at their various 
homes, distributed over several States. 

After the battle of Chickamanga, certain matters growing out 
of the conduct of the battle caused injurious dissensions between 
the Commanding General and some of his subordinates, one of 
the results of which was the relief from duty with that army of 
Lieut.-Gens. Polk and Hill, and an order for the return of Har- 
dee. Accompanying the order was an autograph letter from the 
President commissioning Hardee as peace-maker to the army, 
and appealing to him to exert himself to heal the dissensions 
existing in it. 

Bragg's arm}^ had occupied Missionary Ridge, with its left 
resting on Lookout Mountain, with the object of partially invest- 
ing Chattanooga and cutting off Rosecrans' supplies, by com- 
manding with artillery the river and road communications to his 
depots in Tennessee. On the S^th November, 1863, Grant 
attacked and carried Bragg's left on Lookout Mountain. "With 
the loss of Lookout Mountain, there was no longer an object in 
holding Missionary Ridge. If this position could be held, which 
the loss of Lookout Mountain had made more than doubtful, it 
was no longer practicable to curtail the supplies of the enemy ; 
and the most that could now be hoped for was to hold the posi- 
tion until the enemy, safe within his lines, and no longer suffer- 
ing for provisions,, could receive reinforcements enough to take 
it. But this was by no means the situation. Sherman's army had 
crossed the Tennessee above Chattanooga, and was now threat- 
ening the right. The force which had captured Lookout Moun- 
tain threatened the left. 



LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J, HARDEE. 815 

Tluis, on the evening of the 2-ith Koveraber, the Confederate 
army, weakened by the detachment of Longstreet, who had been 
sent against Knoxville, confronting an enemy reinforced by 
Sherman's army, discouraged by the loss of Lookont Mountain, 
with both flanks exposed and liable to be turned, had everything 
to lose and nothing to win by risking a battle next day. 

Gen. Hardee, impressed with the dangers of the position 
arising from this state of things, urged Gen. Bragg to withdraw 
his army that night, and remained at army headquarters until one 
o'clock A.M., up to which hour the question w^as being discussed. 
Gen. Bragg, influenced somewhat by the difiiculty of withdraw- 
ing troops and trains in the few hours then remaining before day- 
light, and sustained by Gen. Breckinridge, the other corps com- 
mander, decided to remain. 

The next day followed the great disaster of Missionary Ridge. 
In this action the Confederate right, under Hardee, was success- 
ful, repulsing with great slaughter the attack of Sherman ; but 
meanwhile the left had been carried by assault at several points, 
and the enemy directing a flank attack upon Hardee, he found 
his position untenable, but yet maintained his ground long enough 
to cover the line of retreat of the army. 

On arriving at Dalton, Gen. Bragg was relieved, at his own 
request, and ordered to turn over the command of the army to 
Hardee. The latter took charge of the army, but declined its 
permanent command, partly from an unjust difiidence of his own 
abilities, but chiefly from a higher motive. He argued that the 
army, disheartened from its late reverses, needed some new inspi- 
ration to restore its tone — that the country was gloomy, and 
required the prestige of some well-established reputation to renew 
its confidence. Johnston and Beauregard were both of higher 
rank than himself, and both now had less important commands. 
Either of them could probably command more of the confidence 
of the army and the country than himself, and could therefore 
accomplish more for the cause. Actuated by this high motive, 
he made a representation to the government which resulted in 
the assignment of Gen. J. E. Johnston to the command of the 
army. 

In the campaign which culminated at Atlanta, Hardee, as 
corps commander, did constant and conspicuous service, and it 



816 LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 

was in its hard and perilous progress that he earned his nomme 
de guerre of " Old Reliable." It was a peculiar campaign. It 
began with odds of more than two to one on the Federal side, 
and the reinforcements received by Johnston, during the cam- 
paign, Avere less than half those received by Sherman. It 
extended over 100 miles of territory, no mile of which but was 
contested ; and through a period of seventy days, no hour of 
which, day or night, was any part of either army out of the sound 
of tiring. The Federal Commander, admonished by the lesson 
at Resaca and subsequent similar ones at New Hope Church and 
Kennesaw, learned to advance very cautiously. The spade came 
into habitual use, and either side could throw up a formidable 
field-work in half an hour. 

On tlie 18th July, Gen. Johnston was relieved from the com- 
mand of the Army of Tennessee, and Lieut.-Gen. Hood was 
assigned to its command, with the temporary rank of General. 

The three Lieutenant-Generals of the army, including Hardee, 
at once united in a telegram to the government (which Gen. 
Hood sent), urging a suspension of the change until the existing 
emergency should have passed, but the recommendation was not 
adopted. 

There is a current belief that Hardee was a second time 
offered the command of the army, and declined it. Such was 
not the case. He would now have felt it a duty to accept the 
command if it had been offered him. None of the reasons which 
influenced his declining the command at Dalton now existed. 
He could but know that his name, as commander, would now 
have inspired more confidence in the Army of Tennessee than 
any other, except Lee and Johnston. Lee could not be spared 
from Virginia, and Johnston had just been removed. On the 
other hand, he could but recognize, in common with almost every 
soldier in the army, that Gen. Hood's experience and ability 
were not equal to the command of an independent army. 

Again, the removal of Johnston and the promotion of Hood, 
assumed that the latter had not endorsed the policy of the pre- 
vious campaign ; whereas Hardee, as one of the corps commanders 
present at all the councils of war, had means of knowing that no 
position occupied by Johnston, from Dalton to Atlanta, had been 
given up without Gen. Hood's approval ; and that, in several 



LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 817 

instances, as at New Hope Churcli and Kennesaw, he had persist- 
ently and earnestly urged withdrawal some days before the move- 
ment was made. 

The experience of Lee's army in Virginia, and Johnston's in 
Georgia, had demonstrated that troops behind ordinary field- 
works could successfully resist two or three times their numbers, 
and that such works could be thrown up on occasion in half an 
hour. Sherman, in the campaign just ended, had habitually 
intrenched at every step, and it was very unlikely now that he 
could be attacked without encountering intrenchments. The 
troops had been educated for the past seventy days, in the belief 
that these works could be held against any odds, and they them- 
selves had proven, on repeated occasions, that the belief was well 
founded. It was unreasonable now to expect to unteach them all 
they had been taught, and to convince them that they could take 
the works when occupied by odds, which they had so often held 
against the same odds. It was clear, therefore, that any success 
resulting from a change to active offensive operations, must be due 
to the superiority of Southern troops over their opponents, and 
would be at a cost of life which the Confederacy could not afford. 

Such were the reflections which would have induced Hardee 
to accept a command, the supposed declension of which has sub- 
jected him to censure. As it was, with natural professional 
pride, he felt aggrieved at being passed over by an officer inferiour 
in age, rank, experience, and ability to himself, and respectfully 
demanded of the War Department to be relieved from further duty 
with that army, and in case of refusal, tendering his i-esignation. 
He was perfectly frank with Gen. Hood, and explained to him 
his reasons for requesting to be relieved. 

The President refused Hardee's application, and telegraphed 
him, appealing to his patriotism and sense of professional duty, 
not to injure the cause or discourage the army by withdrawing 
from it at so critical a time. It was an appeal which he could 
not resist, and he waived his demand for the time. His feeling 
on this point had been entirely professional, and his personal and 
official relations with Gen. Hood, hitherto frank and cordial, 
were not affected by it. On the contrary, the new commander 
soon had occasion to show, in a marked degree, his great reliance 
upon him. 

52 



818 LIEUT.- GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 

The bloody but fruitless assaults on the enemy's entrenched 
lines and the desperate stand made by Hardee's corps at Jones- 
boro — where it had been placed by Gen. Hood to protect Macon, 
and communications in rear, under the mistaken supposition that 
Sherman was retreating — belong to the general history of the 
campaign. But this last contest was peculiar, one of the most 
remarkable on record, in respect of disparity of numbers, and 
tlie tenacity and success with which the inferiour force held its 
ground. Hardee's command was three divisions — Cheatham's, 
Cleburne's, and Bate's. The Federal force of three corps was reen- 
forced during the forenoon by the arrival of three additional corps, 
and Sherman himself came up and assumed command, his whole 
army being present, except one corps which had been left to 
to guard the depots at Chattahooche bridge. The position of 
Hardee's corps was not chosen, but was fixed by the necessity 
of covering certain roads which passed to the rear of Atlanta, and 
had no marked natural advantages. It was strengthened by the 
field-works wdiich the troops threw up in the brief time allowed 
for preparation. It was of absolute necessity to the safety of the 
remainder of the army at Atlanta, that this position should be 
maintained until night. 

The enemy began the attack about noon. Fortunately it was 
not simultaneous on all parts of the line, and Hardee, by divest- 
ing unassailed points entirely of troops, except a skirmish line 
in front, and moving them rapidly to points of attack, was able 
to concentrate force enough at these points to repel all assaults 
until about the middle of the afternoon. Then an angle of liis 
line, manned by Govan's Arkansas Brigade and Lewis' Kentucky 
Brigade — troops that had no superiours and few equals in the 
army — was carried by assault, and eight guns and most of Govan's 
Brigade were captured. These brave men stood to their line 
until the dense volume of Federal troops rolled over their works, 
and literally took physical possession of the men, Hardee's post was 
near Granberry's Brigade, which was on the left of Govan, and 
his first intimation of the loss of the angle was seeing Granberr3'^'s 
Brigade coming back. He thought they were giving way, and 
a commander might well despair of the day when Granberry's 
Texans gave way. He galloped up to the brigade, which was 
retiring under fire, and asked Granberry sternly what this meant. 



LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 819 

But Granbeny was only swinging round his right to form across 
the base of the lost angle, and drawing himself up to the full 
height of his majestic stature, with a just pride in the fame of 
his Texans, he replied, " General, my men never fall back until 
I order them." Gordon's Tennessee Brigade was then brought 
up rapidly, and charged in the angle on the right of Granberry, 
and a line was thus established across the base of the angle which 
was held until nightfall put an end to the conflict. 

Having accomplished the object of the stand. Gen. Hardee 
withdrew that night to Lovejoy station, four miles distant, and 
took up a position which was maintained against a renewal of 
the attack next day, and until the other two corps of the army, 
which had evacuated Atlanta in the night, formed a junction 
with him. Sherman then drew off his army to Atlanta. 

The loss in Hardee's corps in the part of the campaign con- 
ducted by Gen. Johnston had been a little over five thousand 
killed, wounded, and missing. Assuming that of the other two 
corps to have been equally great, the loss in the ami}'- foots up 
15,000. Hardee's loss, while under Hood's command, up to the 
fall of Atlanta, was something over 7,000 ; by a like estimate, 
that of the army was 21,000. But there was this important dif- 
ference of result : Johnson inflicted upon the enemy a loss cer- 
tainly three times his own, Mdiile the loss inflicted by Hood was 
as certainly less than his own. 

In the latter part of September, President Davis visited the 
Army of Tennessee at Palmetto, Georgia, and Hardee renewed 
his request to be relieved. His wishes were complied with, and 
he was assigned to the command of the Department of South 
Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, hitherto commanded by Gen. 
Beauregard. The latter ofiicer was appointed to a military 
Department, including the field of operations of Hood's army. 

Hood's invasion of Tennessee in November, 1864, left Sher- 
man's army in ISTorth Georgia unopposed. The road southward 
to the coast was now open to the Federal commander, and it 
soon became evident that he did not mean to leave unimproved 
the opportunity thus offered him to penetrate a hitherto unin- 
vaded section, and at the same time to take Richmond in reverse. 

Hardee's department was totally without resources to meet 
this invasion. It had heretofore been a peace department, and 



820 LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 

had been literally stripped of all material of war that could be 
used by the armies in the field in Virginia and North Georgia. 
Every soldier and gun not absolutely indispensable to hold the 
coast line, had been sent to Lee or Johnston long ago. The 
troops left in the department, mostly heavy artillerists, were dis- 
tributed in forts and defences along 150 miles of coast, and were 
at every point confronted by the land or naval forces of the 
enemy. The weakening of any one point would have been fol- 
lowed by an attack upon it, probably a successful one, by an 
enemy constantly on the alert, and whose naval resources gave 
them great advantages for concentration. The loss of one point 
in a system of coast defences more or less dependent, involved 
the eventual loss of the whole system. 

Hardee, therefore, could place no troops in the field without 
the sacrifice of the coast line, which, in addition, would have 
given the enemy possession of the railroad communications with 
Richmond, and enabled them to cut off Lee's supplies. 

Moreover, the military prisons of the Confederate States were 
in Hardee's department, and though their administration was 
controlled directly from Kichmond, their military defence 
devolved upon him. Augusta and Macon, whose arsenals and 
powder mills furnished the Confederate armies their daily sup- 
ply of arms and ammunition, were also to be protected. 

Such was the condition of the military department now 
invaded by forces whose progress the splendid army of Johnston 
had been unable to check, and against which Hood had hurled 
his colunms in vain. 

Hardee represented to the government the exact condition of 
affairs, and the necessity of sending him troops, both for the 
defence of his department and as an eventual protection to Gen. 
Lee. Wheeler's estimate was that Sherman had 45,000 muskets, 
and Hardee was willing to take the field against him with 20,000. 
Not a soldier or a gun was sent him, and he was left to his unas- 
sisted resources. He at once set about securing the service of 
the militia and reserves of Georgia and South Carolina, and took 
measures for placing all important points in his department in 
such posture of defence as his means would allow. He went to 
Macon, Georgia, where there were valuable public shops, soon 
after Sherman began his march southward, and organizing a force 



LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 821 

of Georgia reserves, under command of Gen. Cobb, and the 
reserve artillery of the Army of Tennessee, which had been sent 
back to that point by Hood, prepared to defend the place. Sher- 
man passed by without attacking Macon, and Hardee then pro- 
ceeded to Savannah, which was now evidently Sherman's desti- 
nation. He received there a telegram from Gen. Bragg, at Wil- 
mington, advising him to take the field against Sherman. He 
replied with grim humour, that his whole available force at 
Savannah then consisted of 180 Georgia militia, and he did not 
think it advisable to assume the offensive against Sherman's army 
with that force. 

Savannah had no land defences, and Hardee now selected a 
strong position between the Savannah and Ogeechee rivers, some 
three miles from the city at its nearest point, and entrenched it. 
This line, necessarily some twelve miles long, was objectionable 
for its length, but had great natural advantages. To man it was 
the next thing. 

A body of Georgia militia, under command of G. W. Smith, 
had come by way of the Savannah and Florida Railroad, and 
reached Savannah in advance of Sherman. To these were 
added some South Carolina militia and reserves, and a small 
brigade of local troops from Augusta, made up of government 
machinists, from the public shojDS there, convalescents from hos- 
pitals, and detailed men from various quarters. There were also 
one or two regiments and several companies of regular troops, 
withdrawn from the water side defences of Savannah, and a 
small body of dismounted cavalry, which had been sent back 
from Lee's army to be remounted, and was now brought into 
service by the necessity of this occasion. This nondescript force 
amounted to less than 9,000 effectives. Most of them lacked 
sufficient organization, arms, accoutrements, transportation, 
everything necessary to the comfort or efliciency of troops. With 
this force Hardee proposed to hold a line of twelve miles against 
Sherman's army. 

Hardee did not expect to hold Savannah against a determined 
effort of Sherman to take it. His object was to hold it long 
enough to force Sherman to pass by, in order to communicate 
with the Federal fleet and obtain the supplies he was presumed 
to need after his long march ; which, by Hardee's calculation, 



822 LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HAEDEE. 

would gain time for tlie arrival of the still hoped for reenforce- 
ments from Virginia. 

Sherman appeared before Savannah on the 6th December, 
His march through Georgia had been unopposed, except by 
Wheeler's cavalry, which hung on his front and flanks, and did 
good service by harassing his march, cutting off his foraging 
parties, and keeping Kilpatrick's cavalry close under the wings 
of the Federal infantry. 

The fighting in front of Savannah was confined to skirmish- 
ing until the storming of Fort McAllister. The garrison had 
made a gallant defence, but was inadequate in numbers, and it 
had been out of Hardee's power to reenforce it. Meantime a 
force of the enemy had crossed the Savannah river, on pontoons, 
above the city, and effected a foothold on the opposite side, 
within a mile and a half of Hardee's line of retreat, and was 
being held in check by a jDortion of Wheeler's cavalry, and a 
dismounted body of Butler's division of cavalry, under Gen. 
Young. 

Sherman now sent a formal demand for the surrender of 
Savannah and its garrison, on the ground that the city was no 
longer tenable and the escape of its garrison was impracticable, 
and threatening, in case of refusal, to show no quarter to the 
garrison if captured by assault. Hardee returned an unequivocal 
refusal, but made preparations to evacuate the place. His object 
in holding it thus long had been defeated by the fall of Fort 
McAllister, which opened communication between Sherman and 
the Federal fleet ; and the thing now was to save the garrison 
for other service. This, with an army in his immediate front, a 
wide navigable river in his rear, and a body of the enemy near 
his line of retreat, on the opposite side, was sufiiciently difficult 
and precarious. The water transportation was insufiicient to 
convey the troops across the river rapidly, and in anticipation of 
this emergency, Hardee had constructed a pontoon bridge of rice 
flats, collected from the plantations along the river. This bridge 
was thrown across to an island and thence to the South Carolina 
side, a distance of three-quarters of a mile. 

The bridge was completed on the evening of the 18th Decem- 
ber, and Savannah was evacuated that night. The troops, field 
artillery, stores and munitions were brought off without loss or 



LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 823 

accident. The heavy gnns, which could not be brought off, 
were spiked and otherwise disabled. Several steamers, which 
were to have been burned, fell into the hands of the enemj, 
through the treachery of their officers ; and the only steamer 
destroyed was one in which Hardee himself owned a part inter- 
est. Nothing of value was captured by the enemy at Savannah, 
except the cotton owned by private individuals, which was dis, 
tributed, and some of it concealed in various portions of the city. 
This could not have been collected to be burned, for want of 
transportation. It had required every dray, cart, and vehicle of 
every description that could be impressed in the city, to keep 
the troops on the line supplied with rations, forage, and ammu- 
nition. 

The conduct of the operations at Savannah ranks high as a 
military achievement. In less than ten days, without sufiQcient 
tools or working force, a line of twelve miles had been entrenched, 
with less than 9,000 nondescripts, illy organized and provided, 
and many of whom had never before heard a gun tired in action. 
This line had been held for twelve days against a large and well- 
appointed army, and when there was no longer an object in 
holding it, and the situation of the garrison had become so criti- 
cal that the Federal commander demanded its surrender in the 
belief that it could not escape, a pontoon was improvised, and 
the gan-ison brought off without the loss of a man or a gun 

After a month of rest at Savannah, during which his army 
was increased by a large number of recruits, Sherman resumed 
his march northward, with the evident object of taking Rich- 
mond in reverse. Hardee had sent the Georgia militia to assist 
Gen. D. H. Hill in the defence of Augusta, and disposed his 
other forces, now reenforced from Yirginia by Connor's South 
Carolina Brigade of infantry and a part of Butler's Division of 
cavalry, so as best to impede the progress of the enemy, and 
cover the land approaches to Charleston. Meantime, Gen. 
Beauregard's geographical command had been extended over 
Hardee's Department, and the shattered remnants of Hood's 
army, returned from the disastrous invasion of Tennessee, were 
en route to North Carolina. 

On the 13tli of January, Hardee had telegraphed the Presi- 
dent that, with his present force, Charleston must be abandoned 



824 LIEUT.-GEN". WILLIAM J. HAEDEE. 

or suffer investment if seriously moved upon, and ofi'ering, if the 
good of the service required it, to attempt to hold it witli his 
present force, or to insure holding it if reeuforced by 10,000 
men. No additional troops could be sent him, and the alternative 
was presented of evacuating Charleston, with its dependencies, 
or isolating the troops that held it. As early as the 27th Decem- 
ber, Gen. Beauregard had ordered preparations to be made for 
evacuation ; and on the 30th of the same month directed that the 
rule observed in the case of Savannah should be applied to 
Charleston ; that is, the city should be held only so long as com- 
patible with the safety of the garrison, and when the alternative 
offered, the city should be abandoned and the garrison preserved 
for field service. 

On the 14th February, Gen. Beauregard arrived at Charles- 
ton, from Columbia, returning the same day, and ordered the 
evacuation of Charleston " as soon as the necessary preparations 
can be made." 

On the 15th, Hardee received a telegram from the President 
urging the postponement of the evacuation as long as possible, in 
the hope that " Beauregard may beat the enemy in the field, and 
thus preserve the city and harbour for future use." 

Later in the day. Gen. Beauregard reiterated his order, and 
on the night of the 18th the guns that had so long hurled defi- 
ance across Cliarleston harbour, were silenced ; the flag that had 
floated in triumph alike over the strength and ruins of Sumter, 
was hauled down, and Charleston, the city of grand old memo- 
ries, was evacuated. 

Withdrawal from an extended line of coast defence, con- 
fronted everywhere by the enemy, was a delicate operation, and 
was made more difficult by the bad faith of some of the harbour 
vessels that were to transport the garrisons from the harbour 
forts to the mainland. But the troops were brought off without 
accident, the stores were removed, the rolling-stock of half a 
dozen railroads wliich had been concentrated at Charleston, was 
sent beyond the Santee, and Hardee's troops moved by rail to 
Kingstree. 

The desultory campaign of the Carolinas which now ensued, 
presents but little of interest, and may be briefly despatched in 
closing tlie military career of Gen. Hardee. When Gen. John- 



LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HAEDEE. 825 

ston assumed command and came npon the scene, he directed 
Hardee to move to Smithfield, JSTorth Carolina; the object being 
to concentrate there Bragg's troops from "Wilmington, Hardee's 
from Charleston, and the remnant of the Army of Tennessee, to 
make head against Sherman. Marching in this direction, Hardee 
arrived in the vicinity of Averysboro, on the 15th March. 
Branching off near this point were roads leading to Ealeigh, 
Smithland and Goldsboro, and it became important, with refer- 
ence to Gen. Johnston's future operations, to ascertain whether 
Sherman's army or only a detachment of it was following up 
Hardee ; and if his whole army, whether its destination was 
Ealeigh, Smithland or Goldsboro. This could only be done by a 
stand that would develop the force and objects of the enemy. 
Hardee accordingly selected a position several miles in front of 
Averysboro, at a point where the courses of Cape Fear and 
Black rivers were contiguous, and awaited the attack. 

His force consisted of two small divisions, commanded by 
Gens. McLaws and Taliaferro. The troops which Hardee 
brought out of Charleston had been greatly reduced by desertion. 
Some of them had been on garrison duty all through the war and 
were now unwilling to enter the field. Others were disheartened 
by the reverses everywhere attending the Confederate arras, and 
in some instances companies were reduced to half their numbers 
by desertions in one night. In a rapid march, such as Hardee 
had been making, it was impossible to stop these desertions or to 
arrest the deserters. After passing the South Carolina State line, 
Gov. ]\Iagrath had recalled a brigade of South Carolina State 
troops, refusing to allow them to go out of the State. Hardee's 
effective force, therefore, was now reduced to 6,000 men, includ- 
ing a brigade of South Carolina reserves. His flank was pro- 
tected by Wheeler, who was on the ground with a portion of his 
cavalry. The enemy brought against him the 14th and 20th 
corps of Federal infantry and Kilpatrick's cavalry. Gen. Sher- 
man was on the field in person. 

Hardee's troops, with the exception of Connors brigade, sent 
him from Lee's army, had been drawn from the coast defences, 
and for the most part had served heretofore only as heavy artil- 
lery. They had been organized on the march from Charleston, 
and this was their first field service. They were now to be sub- 



826 LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 

jected to a severe test of soldiership, and they bore the test 
bravely. They repelled the attack of as good troops as there 
were in the Federal armies, made with the odds of two 
corps against two divisions, changed position repeatedly under 
fire, and resisted successfully every attempt of the enemy to turn 
their position with the coolness and steadiness of veterans. Their 
loss in the fight (known as the battle of Averysboro) was 500 
killed and wounded ; that of the enemy, if the statements of 
prisoners subsequently captured may be credited, was 3,000. 

Two days later, Hardee received orders to move to Benton ville, 
where Johnston designed concentrating to strike the column of 
Sherman on its march to Goldsboro. The troops assembled at 
Bentonville, on the 19th March, were McLaws' and Taliaferro's 
divisions of Hardee's command (5,500), Hoke's division, from 
Wilmington (^,500), and 4,000 troops of the Army of Tennessee 
— total 14,000. The last were worn and haggard, from the hard 
service of the winter; their faded gray jackets were stained with 
the mud of six States in which they had fought or marched in 
the past three months, and not more tlian a corporal's guard 
gathered around some of their regimental colors. But before the 
close of the day they showed that their soldierly qualities, at 
least, had survived the hardships and disasters of the Tennessee 
campaign. 

Hampton's cavalry had checked the head of the enemy's 
column at Bentonville ; and the enemy, with their usual precau- 
tion, had thrown up field-works in their front. Heavy skirmish- 
ing had begun in the morning and continued until Johnston's 
troops were all up. Hardee was placed in command of the troops 
of the "Army of Tennessee" and Taliaferro's division, and 
directed to attack on the right. Hoke's division was to follow 
up the attack. McLaws was on the left and in reserve. Hardee 
moved forward at 3 p.m. and carried two lines of temporary field- 
works, captured three pieces of artillery and a stand of colors, 
and drove the enemy one and a half miles. Then at nightfall 
they were found to be in such force as to make it unadvisable to 
press them further. 

At one point in the advance of the troops of the Army of 
Tennessee, they had encountered a ditch and depression of 
ground which protected them from the fire under which they 



LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 827 

were advancing. In front was an open field swept by the ene- 
my's musketry from their works just beyond. The battle of 
Franklin was fresh in their minds, and they hesitated. Hardee 
saw their hesitation, and, leaping his horse over the ditch, he rose 
the ascent beyond, and in full view of his own troops and the ene- 
my, waved his men forward. They recognized their old command- 
er, now seen for the first time since October before, and raising 
a cheer such as those old hills had never echoed before, dashed 
across the field and drove the enemy pell-mell from their works. 

Gen. Johnston rode up to Hardee on the field, while the action 
was still in progress, and said, " General, I congratulate you on 
your success. You have only done, however, what you always 
do." 

The Confederates occupied at night a line a little in rear of 
the advanced position of the day. It was afterwards ascertained 
that Sherman had 35,000 troops on the ground at the beginning 
of the fight. He now brought up the remainder of his army, 
and pressed Johnston's line closely. 

In an afiair of the next day fell, mortally wounded, a son of 
Gen. Hardee, only sixteen years old. A year before, this brave 
boy, full of generous military enthusiasm, and captivated by the 
renown of "Terry's Rangers," a body of Texan cavalry, had run 
away from school at Athens, Georgia, and joined this regiment 
as it passed on its way to the army. His 3'ears were too tender 
for the rough service of these veterans, and his father took him 
on his staff. He won his spurs at Kesaca, where he had a horse 
killed under him, and did a soldier's duty throughout the cam- 
paign. Later he joined Stuart's battery of light artillery in 
South Carolina, and served as a private up to the battle of Ben- 
ton ville. There he again met "Terry's Rangers," and the boy's 
first love revived. The soldiers, proud of his preference for them, 
urged him to join them. Gen. Johnston designed making him 
his aid-de-camp, but thought it well first to allow him to see 
more field-service. He joined the regiment but two hours before 
the charge that closed his young career. Thus, in his father's 
last battle — in the last charge of the day — in the last gallant blow 
which the "Army of Tennessee" struck for Independence, fell, 
in the beauty and promise of tender youth, this noble boy, leaving 
no male descendant to inherit the name and the fame of Hardee. 



828 LIEUT.-GEN. WILLIAM J. HARDEE. 

A few days thereafter and the news of Gen, Lee's surrender 
was the occasion of the conference which terminated in the 
capitulation agreed upon between Gens. Johnston and. Sherman, 
on the 20th April, 1865, The sad survivors of the brave thou- 
sands that had enlisted in the ranks of 18G1, now stacked their 
arms, furled their banners, took leave of their comrades, and 
prepared to wend their way to their various homes. It was a 
touching proof of affection for their first commander that the 
Arkansas Brigade, which had commenced and ended its career 
under Hardee's command, and whose bravest filled graves strewn 
over the length and breadth of nine States, at a moment wlien 
it might be supposed that men who had not seen their homes 
and kindred for four years, would only consider the speediest 
mode of reaching them, now volunteered, in a body, to escort 
Gen, Hardee to his adopted home, in Alabama, He declined the 
generous proffer, and moved across the country, accompanied 
by some members of his staff, and escorted by a company of 
couriers, who had served with him three years, and who 
never left him until they had seen him under his roof-tree, in 
Alabama, 

Gen, Hardee's record, as a commander in the Confederate 
armies, 'is perfect in its round of usefulness and honour. Always 
in the field, always on duty, always at the point which danger 
and responsibility made the post of honour, from Missouri 
to North Carolina, from '"Shiloh" to '' Bentonville," he was 
intrusted with high duties and critical enterprises, and found 
faithful in all, and equal to all. In the outset, he began by pre- 
ferring active field service to rank and a position of comparative 
ease in an Administrative Department. He afterward resisted 
the strongest temptation that could have been held out to a 
noble ambition, in declining the command of the second armj' 
in the Confederate States, when he thought the public weal 
would be advanced by intrusting it to other hands. No page in 
the history of the armies with which he was connected but is 
full of the proofs of trust reposed in him by his commanders, 
and in the unwritten but infallible verdict of the rank and file 
of the army, those severest, but most competent of all judges, 
his name stands in the front of the great soldiers of the war. 
President Davis is known to have considered him the best corps 



LIEUT.-GEN". WILLIAM J. HARDEE, 829 

commander in the service ; and Gen. Johnston went even fur- 
ther, in saying that lie was more capable of handling 20,000 men 
in action than any other Confederate leader. 

Gen. Hardee possessed, in a high degree, the quality which 
!N"apoleon classes as one of the most important in a commander 
— the capacity to estimate, at their just value, military events 
as they occur. His courage was of that order which inspires 
\ courage in others. An accomplished horseman, of commanding 
stature, and strikingly martial mien, his bearing in action was 
impressive and inspiring. To this was added, coolness that never 
failed; presence of mind never disturbed ; and an intellect that 
rose, like his heart, in the tumult and dangers of battle. 

After the close of the war. Gen. Hardee adapted himself 
readily to the change in the habit of life resulting to him, in 
common with his brother officers of the old army, and applied 
himself to civil avocations, with the same energy and success 
that had marked his military career. In the combined occupa- 
tions of planting and railroad operation, he finds agreeable and 
useful employment ; and, followed by the respect and confidence 
of his countrymen, awarded to the virtues of the man not less 
than to the deeds of the soldier, his life flows on in an imbroken 
current of honourable usefulness. 



LIEUT.-GEN. RICHARD TAYLOR. 



CHAPTEK LXXV. 



Peculiar advantages of Gen. " Dick " Taylor in the war. — His gallantry and critical 
service at Port Republic. — Transferred to "West Louisiana. — Interest of his mih- 
tary life directed to New Orleans. — Operations of 18G3 in the Lafourche coun- 
try. — His part in the Red River campaign. — Violent quarrel with Gen. E. Kirby 
Smith. — The merits of this controversy canvassed. — President Davis sustains 
Gen. Taylor, and gives him increased rank and command. — His disposition to 
insubordination. — Destruction of his property by the enemy. — A Vermont soldier's 
account of the exploit. 

EiciiAED Taylor — or "Dick" Taylor, as he was popularly 
known — had the accident of birth and a peculiar advantage to 
favour his career in the late war. A son of Zachariah Taylor, 
the tenth President of the United States, and the popular hero 
of the Mexican war, he bore a name already dear and familiar 
to the public. A brother-in-law of President Davis — who had 
married his sister after a romantic elopement from her father's 
house — he had an extraordinary access to the fountain of office 
and honour: was in close relationship to a ruler who was notor- 
iously governed by his personal affections in dispensing his official 
patronage, and distributing the gifts of rank and fortune. 

Gen. Taylor's first remarkable service in the war was in 
Stonewall Jackson's famous campaign in the Valley of Virginia. 
It was at Port Kepublic that the Louisiana Brigade, commanded 
by Gen. Taylor, decided the day by an attack on the enemy's 
artillery, responding with cheers to Jackson's stern command, 
"That battery must be taken ! " This attack, by which the ene- 
my's artillery was dislodged and the field secured for a general 
advance of the lines of infantry, was perhaps the most brilliant 
incident of the resplendent and fruitful campaign ; and at Port 
llcpublic the line has been generally drawn when the foi-tunes 



LIEUT.-GEN. RICHARD TAYLOR. 831 

of the Confederacy passed from their first great shadow of disas- 
ter and mounted to a new ilhimination of hope. It was the begin- 
ning of that remarkable series of victories in which Richmond 
was saved, the war put back on the frontier, and Lee's guns bel- 
lowed for peace almost at the portals of Washington. 

Gen. Taylor was afterwards transferred to another and distant 
field of operations, and, with the rank of Major-General, placed 
in command of the District of West Louisiana. Here transpired 
the chief interest of his military life. It had a remarkable con- 
nection with the city of New Orleans ; and twice he indulged the 
vision of relieving or recapturing that city, which appears, indeed, 
to have been the aim of all his operations and the summit of his 
hopes. At one time the prospect of such a prize was reasonable, 
and kindled public expectation. In an active campaign in the 
Lafourche country in the summer of 1863, Gen. Taylor, by an 
admirable operation, captured Brashear City and its forts, and 
the position thus obtained, with that of Thibodeaux, gave him 
command of the Mississippi River above New Orleans — enabled 
him in a great measure to cut ofi" Gen. Banks' supplies, and, it 
was hoped, might eventually force that Federal commander to 
the choice of losing New Orleans or abandoning his operations 
against Port Hudson. But the unexpected fall of Yicksburg, 
which involved so many other operations, and carried down with 
it so much of Southern fortune, was fatal to Gen. Taylor's plans, 
and robbed him even of the success he had already obtained. It 
exposed Port Hudson, compelled its surrender, and left Gen. Tay- 
lor's position in the Lafourche country extremely hazardous, and 
not to be justified on military grounds. He was clearly unable 
to hold it, with an active force less than 4,000 men, not including 
the garrison at Berwick's Bay, against the overwhelming forces of 
the enemy released from the siege of Port Hudson ; and he was 
compelled to abandon the campaign, to disappoint the hopes it 
had excited, and to mortify an ambition that had sought so great 
an opportunity of success and glory. 

Gen. Taylor's second occasion of notable service in the Trans- 
Mississippi was in the famous Red River campaign in the spring 
of 1864, in which, acting under the orders of Gen. E. Kirby 
Smith, the department commander, he encountered Banks' army 
moving from Alexandria, and gained two of the most important 



832 LIEUT.-GEN". KICHARD TAYLOR. 

victories of the war. The events of this campaign were thus 
summed in an address he made to his victorious troops : 

"Headquarters District West Louisiana, Mansfield, La., April 11, 1864. 
" General Okdees, No. — . 
" Soldiers of the Army of Western Louisiana : 

"At Last have your patience and devotion been rewarded. 
Condemned for many days to retreat before an overwhelming 
force, as soon as your reinforcements reached you, you turned 
upon the foe. I^o language but that of simple narrative should 
recount your deeds. On the 8th of April you fought the battle 
of Mansfield. Never in war was a more complete victory won. 
Attacking the enemy with the utmost alacrity when the order 
was given, the result was not for a moment doubtful. 

" The enemy was driven from every position, his artillery cap- 
tured, his men routed. In vain were fresh troops brought up. 
Your magnificent line, like a resistless wave, swept everything 
before it. Night alone stopped your advance. Twenty-one 
pieces of artillery, 2,500 prisoners, many stands of colors, 250 
wagons, attest your success over the Thirteenth and Nineteenth 
Army Corps. On the 9th instant you took up the pursuit, and 
pressed it with vigour. For twelve miles, prisoners, scattered 
arms, burning wagons, proved how well the previous day's work 
had been done by the soldiers of Texas and Louisiana. 

" The gallant divisions from Missouri and Arkansas, unfortu- 
nately absent on the 8th instant, marched forty-five miles in two 
days, to share the glories of Pleasant Plill. This was emphati- 
cally the soldier's victory. In spite of the strength of the ene- 
my's position, held by fresh troops of the Sixteenth Corp°, your 
valour and devotion triumphed over all. Darkness closed one 
of the hottest fights of the war. The morning of the 10th instant 
dawned upon a flying foe, wntli our cavalry in pursuit, capturing 
prisoners at every step. These glorious victories were most 
dearly won. A list of the heroic dead would sadden the sternest 
heart. A visit to the hospitals would move the sympathy of the 
most unfeeling. The memory of our dead will live as long as 
noble deeds are cherished on earth. The consciousness of duty 
well performed will alleviate the sufferings of the wounded. 
Soldiers from a thousand homes, thanks will ascend to the God 



LIEUT.-GEN. RICHARD TAYLOR. 83B 

of battles for your victories. Tender wives and fond mothers 
will repose in safety behind the breastworks of your valour. No 
fears will be felt that the hated foe will desecrate their homes 
by his presence. This is your reward ; but much remains to be 
done. Strict discipline, prompt obedience to orders, cheerful 
endurance of privations, will alone insure our independence. 
" R. Taylor, Major-General Commanding." 

After the battle of Pleasant Hill, Gen. Taylor was for pursu- 
ing the enemy to his transports; and, contemplating the destruc- 
tion of Banks and Porter, indulged the prospect of thus over- 
throwing the enemy's power, and perhaps opening the way to 
Kew Orleans. It was a brilliant vision and a stirring inspira- 
tion. But the Commanding-General did not favour this view ; 
he did not share Taylor's exultation ; and very properly looking 
to all points of his extensive department, and surveying the whole 
field of action, rather than being intent on eclat and the interests 
of a particular locality, he decided upon a different campaign, 
which was to move against the Federal General Steele, who was 
threatening invasion of Texas and Louisiana from Little Rock. 
Indeed, it must be confessed that Gen. Taylor's idea of freeing 
the Department of the Gulf, by pursuing and overthrowing 
Banks' army, bordered on the visionary, and was not the wise 
choice in the alternative of campaigns presented after the battle 
of Pleasant Hill. However that battle was adorned in the words 
of the general order we have quoted, the truth is it was scarcely 
a Confederate victoiy — that three-fourths of Taylor's army had 
been actually worsted in the engagement, and that the enemy 
had ultimately retired rather from distress of supplies and timidity 
than from positive disaster to his arms. Banks was now intrenched 
at Grand Ecore, supported by gunboats ; and the idea of annihi- 
lating in their intrenchments a force double that of the Confed- 
erates, and resting on gunboats, counting, too, the difficulties of 
transportation over 250 miles, was not among the probabilities 
to be entertained by a prudent commander. The country was 
destitute of supplies ; it was impossible to dislodge the enemy 
by undertaking a sustained operation upon his communications ; 
and a direct assault upon his position was scarcely to be thought 
of. Meanwhile, Steele was still advancing from Arkansas ; he 

53 



834 LIEUT.-GEN. RICHARD TAYLOR. 

liad crossed tlie Little Missouri with an excellent army of 15,000 
men, having been joined by Thayer from Fort Smith. In view 
of all the circumstances. Gen. E. Kirby Smith decided to move 
against Steele, and to forego Gen. Taylor's plans against Banks; 
it being still possible that after Steele wiis disposed of, he might 
flank Banks, and, concentrating his forces, ultimately essay his 
capture or overthrow. 

The sequel was that Banks escaped before such a concen- 
tration could be formed. While Gen. Smith moved with the 
bulk of his army against Steele, Gen. Taylor, with a small force, 
was intent upon Banks, and followed the enemy very vigorously, 
capturing and destroying three gunboats and six or eight trans- 
ports. He insisted that with Walker's, Parsons', and Churchill's 
divisions, he could overwhelm Banks, who was now at Alexan- 
dria, assisting Porter, who was trying to get his gunboats over 
the falls of the river. Some infantry in Arkansas was imme- 
diately put in motion to him, as it seemed possible the enemy 
might be compelled to abandon or destroy liis fleet. But, by 
singular skill and energy, he had built a tree-dam across the Red 
Piver, by the aid of which he succeeded in getting all his boats 
oft' before any reinforcement reached Gen. Taylor, who was com- 
pelled, with little opportunity of action, to see the prize he had 
counted on slip from his grasp. 

The truth must be stated that Gen. Taylor was a passionate, 
high-tempered man, and had but little sense of subordination. 
He fought with admirable gallantry ; he had, perhaps, more 
accomplishments of general education than any commander of 
equal grade in the Confederate army ; but he chafed under the 
commands of his superiours and the formulas of rank ; and it 
may be said that he was a very able, and a very imperious man. 
So violently did he resent Gen. Smith's interference with his 
plans against Banks and the diversion of the campaign, that he 
wrote to Richmond, requesting to be relieved from the command 
of the district of West Louisiana. Indeed, he had dissented from 
Gen. Smith, and almost defied him, in every incident of the cam- 
paign. It had been the design of the latter commander to draw 
Banks some distance beyond Mansfield, and to make a field 
against him only when he could concentrate all the Confederate 
forces; but Gen. Taylor took the responsibility of changing a 



LIEUT.-GEN. RICHARD TAYLOR. 835 

reconuoissance into a battle, and on the commencement of tlic 
action, he had declared to Gen. Polignac, who commanded one 
of his divisions, " Little Frenchman, I am going to fight Banks 
liere, if he has a million of men ! " A dispatcli from Gen. Smith 
came to him in the midst of the battle, ordering him to withdraw- 
near Shreveport. *' Too late, sir," said Taylor, to the courier 
who brought it; "the battle is won. It is not the first I have 
fought with a halter around my neck." Happily, a victory was 
obtained. But when on the heels of his victories. Gen. Taylor 
was for giving chase to Banks, and risking the whole department 
for an improbable success against an enemy intrenched and rest- 
ing on gunboats, it must be considered wise and fortunate that 
he was opposed by the prudence of his superiour, and stayed at 
the point of success already accomplished. But when this differ- 
ence between the two commanders went up to Richmond, and 
Gen. Taylor, ordered to Natchitoches, awaited there the pleasure 
of the government, President Davis did not take this view, and 
was prompt to adopt the cause and caprice of his relative — to 
such an extent, indeed, that he gave him increase of rank, and 
one of the most important commands in the Confederac3^ The 
consequence of the disagreement between Gens. Taylor and 
Smith was that the former was made a Lieutenant-General, 
transferred east of the Mississippi, and given the command of 
what was popularly known as the Department of the Southwest, 
comprising East Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. This com- 
mand Gen. Taylor surrendered to the enemy, in a convention 
with Gen. Canby, on the 4th May, 1865. 

Before the war Gen. Taylor had possessed a vast property ; 
he was a munificent planter, surrounded by wealth and culture. 
He was one of the earliest and most conspicuous victims of the 
enemy's rapacity. It was in the second year of the war, shortly 
after the capture of New Orleans, that the enemy commenced, 
to a large extent, his career of atrocities against rights and prop- 
erties wliich the arms of both belligerents had hitherto spared: 
They removed Washington's statue from the State House of 
Louisiana to New York ; they took a large part of the State 
library ; they liberated the convicts from the Penitentiary. It 
was in this period of vandalism that Gen. Taylor's plantation 
was plundered, one hundred and fifty of his slaves carried off, 



836 LIEUT.-GEN. RICHARD TAYLOR. 

and his private papers despoiled, even of tokens of affection from 
his illustrious father. The exploit was gleefully described by a 
Vermont soldier, and published in a Northern paper. The report 
is copied literally, for obvious interest and instruction. 

"It is one of the most splendid plantations that I ever saw. 
There are on it TOO acres of sugar-cane, which must rot upon the 
ground if the Government does not harvest it. I wish you could 
have seen the soldiers plunder this plantation. After the stock 
was driven off, the boys began by ordering the slaves to bring 
out everything there was to eat and drink. They brought out 
hundreds of bottles of wines, eggs, preserved figs, and peaches, 
turkeys, chickens, and honey in any quantity. I brought away 
a large camp-kettle and frying-pans that belonged to old Gen. 
Taylor, and also many of his private papers. I have one letter 
of his own hand-writing, and many from Secretary Marcy, some 
from Gen. Scott, and some from the traitor Floyd. I brought to 

camp four bottles of claret wine. Lient. brought away half 

a barrel of the best syrup from the sugar-house, and a large can 
of honey. The camp-kettle and pans I intend to send home. 
They are made of heavy tin, covered with copper. I think I will 
send home the private papers by mail, if I do not let any one 
have them. The camp is loaded down with plunder — all kinds 
of clothing, rings, watches, guns, pistols, swords, and some of 
Gen, Taylor's old hats and coats, belt-swords — and, in fact, every 
old relic he had is worn about camp." 

How refreshing the innocence and exuberance of the Yer- 
mont spoiler ; how evident that such outrages were not the 
unusual or hidden practices of Federal soldiers ; how great the 
magnanimity that is called upon to forgive and forget such 
atrocities of the war! Gen, Taylor is now a comparatively poor 
man, struggling for a livelihood in commercial pursuits in New 
Orleans — the city his arms most sought to save ; and when we 
find such a man, notwithstanding the grievous personal recollec- 
tion of the war he bears, consenting to the enemy's terms of 
reconstruction, and heartily counselling their acceptance, we see 
an example of that magnanimity which has made the people of 
the South admirable in disaster, and proved their strength equal 
to suffer as to do. 



MAJ.-GEN. MWM H. MAURY. 



CHAPTER LXXVI. 



Ancestral stock of Dabney H. Maury. — Services in the Mexican "War, — Accepts tha 
cause of the Southern Confederacy. — Various services in the Western armies. — 
His gallant defence of Mobile. — The Army of Mobile the last organized body of 
troops in the Confederacy. 

Dabney IIeendon Mauey is descended from the families of 
Fontaine and of Mauiy, who fled from France to Virginia, on the 
revocation of the edict of JSTantes by Louis XIY. ; from the 
Minor who came to Yirginia, in the reign of Charles II., with a 
grant from that king ; and from the Brooke, who came to Yir- 
ginia, with grants from Queen Anne. The estate of Brooke 
Bank, on the Rappahannock, is still held bj William Brooke, 
under the original grant. Dabney H. Maury was born in Fred- 
ericksburg, May 21, 1822. His father was an officer of high 
character and ability, who lost his life while serving under old 
Commodore David Porter in the West Indies, as flag-officer 
of his fleet ; and his father's brother, Matthew Fontaine Maury, 
yet lives, known to fame as " Lieutenant Maury." 

In 1846, he graduated at West Point, was assigned to the 
Mounted Rifles, proceeded to Mexico, and went into action for 
the first time at Yera Cruz. He was severely wounded at Cerro 
Gordo, was promoted for his gallantry there, and also received a 
pleasant and honourable testimony in the present of a sword 
from the citizens of Fredericksburg. He Avas subsequently vari- 
ously employed as instructor at West Point and Carlisle Bar- 
racks, and gave to the military literature of the country a valu- 
able treatise on a new system of tactics for mounted troops. In 
1860 he was promoted to captain of the Adjutant-General's 
department, and ordered to Santa Fe, as Adjutant-General of 
Kew Mexico. 



838 MAJ.-GEN. DABNEY H. MAURY. 

He resigned liis commission on receiving the news of the 
secession of Virginia, and made his way with his family and 
servants through Kansas, Missonrij Illinois, Indiana, and Ken- 
tucky, to Richmond, where he arrived on the 19th July, 1861. 
He was at once appointed Colonel of Cavalry by the Governor 
of Virginia, and subsequently Lieutenant-Colonel in the Pro- 
visional Army of the Confederate States, and assigned to duty as 
Adjutant-General of Johnston's army at Manassas. He was 
soon afterwards, at his own request, transferred to the Army of 
Fredericksburg. 

In February, 1862, he was ordered to the Trans-Mississippi 
Department, as Chief of Staff to Gen. Yan Dorn ; and, having 
been complimented in the battle of Elk Horn, he was promoted 
Brigadier-General. He went to Corinth wnth the Army of the 
Trans-Mississippi, and from that time held various commands in 
the West. He commanded a division in the battle of Corinth, 
and did a splendid service after that action in engaging the 
Federal corps under Ord, at the Hatchie Bridge ; and in the 
subsequent operations around Yicksburg, especially in the defeat 
of Sherman's and Porter's expedition into the Deer River 
country, he obtained additional distinction. 

But the most memorable and brilliant service rendered by 
Gen. Maury was the defence of Mobile, in the last periods of the 
war — an event which adorned the declining fortunes of the Con- 
federacy, and gave to its history the last example of glory. He 
had been transferred to East Tennessee, wdieu he was ordered 
to exchange Departments with Gen. Buckner, and to proceed to 
Mobile, and take command of the Department of the Gulf. 
While exercising this command, Gen. Maury, at different times, 
repulsed the attack of Farragut's fleet against Fort Powell, the 
column of Davidson, from Baton Rouge, against Mobile, and the 
raid of Ashboth, from Pensacola, towards the Montgomery and 
Great Northern Railroad. Being temporarily in command of 
the Department embracing Mississippi, Alabama, East Louisiana, 
and West Florida, he authorized Forrest to make the expedition 
into Memphis which caused the retreat of the invading column 
of A. J. Smith, which had already penetrated into Mississippi 
as far as Oxford. 

After Mobile had been several times threatened with attack, 



MAJ.-GEN. DABNEY H. MAURY. 889 

an army under Canbj, and a large fleet, commenced to move 
against it, in March, 1865. Canby's immediate force was over 
45,000 troops, besides a fleet of about twenty war vessels. Gen. 
Maury's forces were less than 8,000 efi'ectives, with four or five 
inefiicient gunboats. The enemy having got in position, attacked 
the lines of Spanish Fort and Blakely, while he threatened 
Mobile itself. The eff"ective force of the positions attacked 
numbered about 4,000 of all arms ; the besiegers numbered more 
than 45,000, and the works were light field-works. The supply 
of Confederate ammunition was scant, and had to be very spar- 
ingly used. After two weeks of defence, not surpassed in 
courage and skill by any in the war, the position of Spanish 
Fort was abandoned to the enemy, and most of the garrison 
saved. ]^ext day, Blakely was carried by assault. Gen. Maury 
then decided, in pursuance of his general instructions, to attempt 
no defence of the city, but to save his garrison. He occupied 
two days, April 10th and 11th, in removing his stores and 
destroying his armament, etc., and during the night of the 11th, 
he removed the troops from their positions in the city, except 
the rear-guard of 300 Louisiana infantry. On the ' 12th he 
marched out of Mobile, on the road to Meridian. The Army of 
Mobile reached Meridian about 4,500 strong, and was organ- 
ized into a division under Gen. Maury, and prepared to march 
across the country into Carolina, to join Gen. Johnston. But this 
design was overruled by events which had occurred elsewhere. 

On the 12th May, 1865, Gen. Maury and the Army of 
Mobile were paroled prisoners of war, under the terms of the 
surrender made by Gens. Taylor and Canby. The Army of 
Mobile was the only organized body of troops on that day in 
the Confederacy, and bore on their serried bayonets the last hope 
of the South. 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. MAGRUDEK. 



CHAPTER LXXYII. 

BriUiant service of Magruder's batteries in the Mexican War. — Interesting incident 
at Contreras. — He makes the tour of Europe. — Offers his sword to Virginia. — 
Battle of Bethel. — Important and critical services on the Peninsula. — How he 
deceived McClellan, and defied his "grand army." — Another desperate situation 
in front of Richmond. — Transferred to Texas. — Recapture of Galveston. — Affair 
of Sabine Pass. — Address to the people of Texas. — The enemy compared to " the 
ravenous cat." — Gen. Magruder resists a surrender. — His exile in Mexico. — The 
tribute of a companion-in-arms to his accomplishments and virtues. 

JoHisr Bankhead Magruder was born at Port Eoyal, in the 
county of Caroline, Virginia, in 1808. He graduated at West 
Point in the class of 1830, and his earliest campaign was against 
the Indians in Florida, where lie served under Gen. Scott and 
his uncle, Gen. James Bankhead. In the Mexican Avar his serv- 
ices were historical and brilliant, and he was remarkable there 
for the splendid performance of his light artillery — an arm the 
value of which he illustrated in no less than nine battles. The 
stormy music of his battery was heard in the very first combat 
at Palo Alto, and its vibrations scarcely ceased until they shook 
the buildings in the Grand Plaza of the capital ! It was in the 
rapid and effective management of field-pieces, and the combina- 
tions with which they were applied to accomplish immediate and 
important results, that his genius shone and his brilliant courage 
was most strikingly manifested. 

The severest test of the valour and efficiency of this compara- 
tively new arm occurred at Contreras, where Capt. Magruder 
was ordered to entertain the powerful concentration of the 
enemy's batteries under Gen. Valencia, while the brigades of 
liiley and Persifer F. Smith were painfully and slowly gaining 
liis rear. His battery held its ground desperately ; it was crippled 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. MAGRUDER. 841 

by the heavy and murderous fire of Valencia; his liorses lay 
around the guns in pools of gore ; but he did not withdraw his 
broken and suffering ranks until the columns of infantry had 
succeeded in flanking the enemy. One of his guns was com- 
manded on this day by Lieutenant Thomas Jonathan Jackson, 
afterwards the world-renowned " Stonewall." 

Singular and startling are the vicissitudes of war! When 
Capt. Magruder had lost half his officers and men in the terrible 
exposure for three hours at Contreras, and was looking about him 
for such assistance as he could get in his extremest need, he saw, 
at a little distance, a young gentleman in the uniform of the 
United States army, apparently not engaged in the battle. Riding 
up to him without a moment's delay, Capt. Magruder proposed 
to the youthful stranger that he should take charge of one of the 
pieces disabled by the loss of its officer. The invitation was un- 
hesitatingly accepted, and the volunteer lieutenant served the 
piece with the utmost self-possession, and with telling effect, 
until the end of the fight. When his name was asked for, that 
it might be properly mentioned in the official report, he gave it 
as George B. McClellan ! There, upon that Mexican battle-field, 
under the blazing fire of the enemy, did these two men meet for 
the first time, fifteen years later to be confronted as deadly 
enemies on the already historic intrenchments of Yorktown, 
Virginia, in a war between the sundered sections of the Union ! 
Did the "forlorn hope" of the memorable day of Contreras, its 
common glory, ever come to the memory of these leaders of 
hostile armies Mdien each watched the camps of the otlier and 
plotted his destruction ; and what must have been its lessons, 
what its inspirations, in this strange confront and emulation of 
arms ! 

Magruder came out of the Mexican War a Lieutenant-Colonel 
by brevet. Soon after its close, he went abroad, and spent some 
time in England and on the Continent, everywhere perfecting 
his acquaintance with the art of war in the arsenals and camps 
of the different nations of Europe, and everywhere received in 
the most polished circles of society. This foreign tour he repeated, 
just before the political difficulties of the United States ripened 
into secession, under a commission from the War Department to 
prepare a report on the light artillery practice of European estab- 



842 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. MAGRUDEE. 

lisliraents, and to translate from the French the best manual of 
artillery tactics extant in that language, for the use of the United 
States army. When he returned to Washington he found the 
clouds of war gathering, and on the instant that the proclama- 
tion of President Lincoln roused the people of Virginia into 
armed resistance, he laid down his regulation sabre and his col- 
onel's commission, and drawing the sword which had been pre- 
sented to him by his native county of Caroline, he came to 
offer his skill and devotion to the cause of the Southern Con- 
federacy. 

He was made a Brigadier-General ; and it was his good for- 
tune to win one of the earliest successes of the war, upon a soil 
of historic inspirations — his command of about 1,800 men check- 
ing at Bethel a column which Butler had sent from Fortress 
Monroe to try the threshold of the Peninsular approach to 
Kichmond. But this affair was trifling compared to the service 
which he was afterwards called upon to perform in covering this 
approach to the Confederate capital — a service which was not 
noisily advertised in the gazette, but which consisted in the 
ceaseless vigilance and untiring energy that during thirteen long 
months of hardship and exposure occupied the enemy, and at 
last kept an immense invading arm}'^ in check, and made the 
inconsiderable force of less than 10,000 men impress the " Young 
l^apoleon " of the ]!!^orth, and his grand army, with the idea of 
100,000. It was a service which saved Pichmond. 

When McClellan commenced the transportation of his army 
to the Peninsula, and Gen. Johnston yet lingered in the neigh- 
bourhood of the Rappahannock and the Papidan, Gen. Magruder 
found himself, with the small force under his command, confront- 
ing an army which gradually grew before his eyes to Y5,000 
men, before he received a single reinforcement. Every day 
fleets of transports arrived in Hampton Poads, and the extension 
of the long line of tents at Newport News told of the gathering 
host. At this time Gen. Magruder's line extended from Glouces- 
ter Point, on the north side of the York Piver, across the penin- 
sula to Mulberry Island, in the James Piver, a distance of 
seventeen miles, on which was strung a force scarcely exceeding 
8,000 men. At one time it was proposed in a council of war to 
retreat towards Pichmond; but Gen. Magruder rejected the 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. MAGRUDER. 843 

advice of his officers, and determined on the desperate enterprise 
of entertaining McClellan and his great army until Gen. John- 
ston's forces could arrive upon the scene. He inspired his men 
by eloquent appeals. He issued an address to be read to each 
command in his army, in which he declared: "The enemy is 
before us — our works are strong — our cause is good — we fight 
for our homes and must be careful. Every hour we hold out 
brings us reinforcements." It was not a mere idle audacity, a 
blind desperation ; he was active every day in impressing the 
enemy with a show of strength and alarming him with signs of 
battle ; he adroitly extended his little force to every point open 
to observation, so as to give the appearance of numbers to the 
enemy ; he made almost daily feints of attack ; there were march- 
ings and counter-marchings, the hurryings to and fro, the mid- 
night calls, the movements down one road and up another. 
McClellan actually believed that an army of a hundred thousand 
men was on his front. ISTisht after nio-ht did the Federal officers 
sleep restlessly in their encampment at Kewport N"ews, expectant 
of the alarm that Magruder was upon them. Morning after 
morning did they strain their eyes along the road leading to New 
Market, for the dust of his approaching columns. Such was the 
alarm and uncertainty of McClellan until Johnston's army 
reached the critical ground, and assured the safety of Richmond. 
The service of Magruder had been vital and heroic; it was 
almost incredible, in the simplest statement of the facts. With 
a force of about 10,000 he had checked the whole of McClellan's 
army, and paralyzed the power for mischief of a great host, sup- 
ported by an immense naval armament, with two wide water 
courses open to them, by which, at any moment, they might 
have assailed him on both sides at once ! 

It appears to have been the peculiar fortune of Gen, Ma- 
gruder to enact the most desperate parts in the defence of Rich- 
mond. In the memorable battles of 1862 around that city, we 
again find him in circumstances somewhat similar to those at 
Yorktown, holding a thin and critical line, and playing upon the 
enemy's credulity as to the magnitude of his forces. When 
Gen. Lee crossed the Chickahominy with the larger part of his 
army to fight the battle of Gaines' Mills, the divisions of Gen. 
Magruder and Huger were all that remained on the other side 



844 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. MAGRUDER. 

of the stream to cover Richmond. Of the situation and McClel- 
lan's opportunity, Magruder writes : " After the battle of Fridaj'-, 
the 27th June, on the opposite bank of the Chickahominy, it 
was ascertained that the enemy had withdrawn his troops to the 
right bank, and therefore the whole of his forces were massed in 
front of our lines, and that he had destroyed the bridges over 
this river, thereby separating our army and concentrating his 
own. * * * * From the time at which the enemy with- 
drew his forces to this side of the Chickahominy and destroyed 
the bridges, to the moment of his evacuation, that is, from Fri- 
day night until Sunday morning, I considered tlie situation of 
our army as extremely critical and perilous. The larger portion 
of it was on the opposite side of the Chickahominy, the bridges 
had been all destroyed, but one was rebuilt, the New Bridge, 
which was commanded fully by the enemy's guns from Gould- 
ing's, and there were but 25,000 men between his army of 
100,000, and Richmond. * * * Had McClellan massed his 
whole force in column, and advanced it against any point of our 
line of battle, as was done at Austerlitz, under similar circum- 
stances, by the greatest captain of any age, though the head of 
his column would have suffered greatly, its momentum would 
have insured him success, and the occupation of our works about 
Richmond, and, consequently, the city might have been his 
reward." 

Happily McClellan did not have the genius or audacity to use 
this opportunity of attack, and, retreating across Gen. Magruder's 
front, he made for the James River, below Richmond. In this 
retreat he surprised Gen. Magruder, who was only able to come up 
with his rear-guard at Savage Station, and afterwards made an 
ill-advised attack upon his batteries of Malvern Hill. In these 
incidents of McClellan's retreat (which have been elsewhere 
related more fully). Gen. Magruder fell under some popular cen- 
sure, from which he was vindicated, however, by an official 
investigation of the facts. 

After these battles he was sent west of the Mississippi, to 
take command in Texas, bearing with him, in the order assigning 
him to this distant command, an extraordinary tribute to his 
services, declaring that " Maj.-Gen. Magruder has deserved 
the thanks of the army and the people, and will carry to ]m 



MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. MAGRUDER. 845 

new field their confident hopes for the achievement of new suc- 
cesses." These hopes were more than realized. He appears to 
have had a fondness for dramatic and startling adventures ; his 
dashing courage took to desperate enterprises ; and the country 
was soon electrified by a train of victories on the Gulf Coast, 
where the war had hitherto dragged, and presented but few 
exhibitions of interest. As he was on his way to Texas, accom- 
panied by Judge Oldham, Major Forshey, and others, the subject 
of retaking Galveston Island was introduced. The difiiculties 
of the undertaking were canvassed, and the question came up 
whether the work was feasible. Major Forshey observed : 
" General, I think the best plan is to resolve to retake Galveston 
any way, and then canvass the difficulties." The General replied 
that he thought so too, and from that point began the under- 
taking. 

The recapture of Galveston was accomplished on the 1st Jan- 
uary, 1863, by an attack on the enemy's fleet and garrison ; the 
steamer Harriet Lane was carried by boarding from two small 
steamers fenced with cotton; and the whole Federal fleet would 
have been compelled to surrender, had they not ignominiously 
escaped under cover of a flag-of-truce. Some months later fol- 
lowed the success of Sabine Pass. Attacked by five gunboats, 
the fort, mounting but three guns of small calibre, and manned 
by 200 men, steadily resisted their fire, and at last forced the 
surrender of the two gunboats Clifton and Sachem, badly crip- 
pling another, which, with the others, escaped over the bar. The 
result of this gallant achievement was the capture of two fine 
gunboats, fifteen heavy guns, over 200 prisoners, among them the 
Commodore of the fleet, and over fifty of the enemy killed and 
wounded, while not a man was lost on the Confederate side or a 
gun injured. 

About the close of the year 1863, Gen. Magruder had reason 
to suppose that the enemy contemplated a formidable invasion 
of Texas by the coast. Gen. Banks having taken possession of the 
Lower Eio Grande and occupied Aransas and Corpus Christ! 
Passes. In view of these movements, an address was issued to 
the planters who resided in counties within fifty miles of the 
coast, from Corpus Christi to Galveston, to remove their negroes 
beyond the reach of the enemy. In making this appeal to the 



S46 MAJ.-GEN. JOHN B. MAGRUDER. 

people of Texas, Gen. Magruder warned them against the faith- 
less promises of the enemy. "The utter disregard of all social 
rights," he said, " as Avell as the distinct proclamation of Presi- 
dent Lincoln, so ruthlessly carried out by his minions, leave no 
room for hope, even to the most credulous, to save their property, 
and especially their negroes, even by the base submission of men 
who should prefer death to dishonour. Should hopes be held out 
to the people of Texas that they will be exceptions to the rule so 
vigourously enforced in her sister States in localities where the 
enemy are in possession of temporary power, and should even 
the property of some, deceived into an oath of allegiance by the 
treacherous promises of our enemy, be for a time respected, such 
hopes will prove deceitful — such respect a snare. The playing 
of the ravenous cat with the harmless mouse is not more deceit- 
ful or fatal." 

It is well known that Gen. Banks subsequently changed his 
intentions, if he had contemplated an invasion of Texas from the 
sea, and undertook the famous Red Eiver campaign, in which 
Gen. Magruder was called upon to cooperate with the other Con- 
federate forces in the Trans-Mississippi. This was the last event 
of importance west of the Mississippi. "When, by the progress 
of dominant events on the other side of the river, the necessity 
of surrender came here, Gen, Magruder attempted to animate 
the Texas troops in the hope of prolonging the war, or punishing 
the enemy to the last opportunity. At Houston he addressed the 
citizens, sought to inspire them with something of his own hope 
and ardour, and concluded by 23rotesting that " he had rather be 
a Comanche Indian than bow the knee to the Yankees." But 
these appeals were vain ; and Gen, Magruder accepted for him- 
self the experiment of exile, removing to Mexico, where he was 
connected with the government of Maximilian in some scheme 
of colonization. This enterprise having failed, he has since 
i-eturned to his country, where enough of sympathy for "the lost 
cause " yet remains to make welcome for all its illustrious and 
unhappy champions, 

A companion-in-arms of the General, writing of him in the 
active period of the war, when his star was ascending with the 
fortunes of the South, thus describes the man : " Of Gen. Magru- 
der, in the freedom of private life, it may be said, without vio- 



MAJ.-GEN". JOHN B. MAGRUDER. 847 

lating the proprieties of social reserve, that never was there a 
more agreeable man. In conversation he is especially happy, 
enriching whatever topic may be under discussion with illustra- 
tions drawn from the stores of a large and various reading, or 
enlivening it with anecdotes of his actual experiences of life and 
manners. The elegance of his demeanour, and a certain je ne 
mis quoi of repose, derived from much observation of men and 
cities, courts and drawing-rooms, combined with the betrayal, now 
and then, in his personal adornments, of a cultivated taste in 
objects of luxury, brought upon him, among his intimate friends 
in societ}'-, the title of "Prince John " — a title which was used in 
pleasantry by his brother officers in the old army. But never 
was a man more free from mere vulgar ostentation, either out- 
wardly or in social intercourse. On the contrary, his style in 
talk and in correspondence is that of severe simplicity. Few 
men, however, can engage him in an encounter of wits without 
loss of reputation. Beast Butler tried it while at Fortress Mon- 
roe, in an exchange of letters, and came off l^o. 2. * * * '^ 
Wherever he may go, he will be to his friends the same merry, 
dashing, charming fellow that he has been in former days, in the 
drives 2lVl^ fetes of Newport, in the saloons of Paris, in the mili- 
tary outpost, in the midnight bivouac, in the club, and in the 
camp ; and we may be assured that lie will prove to the enemies 
of the country the same self-composed, self-reliant, indomitable, 
dangerous combatant that he was to Tiger-Tail and Osceola, 
Yalencia and ' the Young Napoleon.' " 



SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



CHAPTER LXXVIII. 

Reflections on the close of the war. — The true glory of history. — "The possession 
forever." — The duties and hopes of the South. — Two distinct grounds of faith in 
the future. — The people of the South to make their own history and Pantheon. — 
Their dead heroes. 

On the completion of our work there arise some great and 
ennobling reflections. It should be the pride of the people of 
the South, and the ambition of its youth, to uphold as a peculiar 
ornament the glorious names of the war, and to cultivate with 
tenderness and reverence whatever remains of the institutions 
and ideas of chivalry in their country, so well distinguished in 
the world as it already is for its types of courage and peculiar 
schools of honour. In the second year of the past war, the Lon- 
don Times declared that whatever nn'ght be the fate of the 
Southern Confederacy, it had " begun its career with a reputation 
for genius and valour which the most famous nations might 
envj'." It is for us to remember that the title thus conferred is 
not changed or diminished by the mere political issues of the 
war. The true glory of history is indifferent to events ; it is tlie 
record of honour, as often read in the grand stories of misfortune 
as in the illuminated text of victory. It is thus that although 
the cause of the South, in certain respects, and for a certain time, 
may be lost, we are yet gainers in history and inheritors of its 
glory. This reputation is not a shadow ; it is the treasure which 
the Greeks called " the possession forever," a substantial and 
enduring crown, that for Avhich nations have fought as above all 
other objects of contest. The low and grovelling mind may 
apprehend but little in a name in history, and weigh it lightly in 
the coarse scales of a utilitarian philosophy ; but it is the first 



SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS. 849 

prize for which generous nations have contended in all ages of 
the world, the ornament of the humblest individual who shares 
the common title of a great people. Looking at the past war, 
not in the narrow circle of political partisans, not from the stand- 
points of the passing day, but from the great eminences of His- 
tory, it might be difficult to exchange as equal prizes the martial 
glory of the South for the material triumph and shallow success 
of the North. 

"We are not disconsolate. We have won a priceless fame in 
the past war; we have obtained a new school of experience ; we 
have entitled ourselves the countrymen of Lee and Jackson ; we 
have reproduced the best part of Ancient Chivalry ; constructed 
a romance of cavaliers that will ever have a distinct place in the 
admiration of Christian nations ; given to the world names which ^ 
it will not willingly let die. Talk about defiling these names by 
the shallow daub of the epithet of rebels ; talk about " making 
treason odious" by confiscations, and prisoners, and gibbets — 
why these are but helps to sympathy, the crowns of martyrdom, 
the assurances of a yet more loving and reverential memory of 
our living and dead ! The enemy cannot dishonour our history. 
What is the diction of laws worth when our feelings, and judg- 
ments, and consciences proclaim those heroes whom they call 
" traitors." Yes, they will " make treason odious " only when 
they can give law to affection and measure the drops of blood 
in our hearts. 

There is a coarse notion that there should succeed upon the 
war a utilitarian age in the South ; that the people should build 
mills and factories, sum up their philosophy in that great Yankee 
word, "material prosperity," and let ideas alone. Gov. Orr 
says he is " tired of South Carolina as she was," and wants to 
copy after Massachusetts and her mills, and get into the South 
some of the pelf of New England civilization. Now this advice 
may have a certain and limited value : we must repair the homes 
ruined by the war, reclaim the waste fields, and build anew the 
temples of industry. But this is not all, or the noblest part of 
our task. Let it be also our care to defend ourselves against what 
would be the worst consequence of our defeat — the loss of our 
distinctive character as a people, and the diminution of our name 
in history. Let ns maintain, as far as possible, our peculiar 

54 



850 SOME CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

habit of civilization, protect our institutes of honour, reassert the 
virtues of chivalry, and not forget the exercise of arms. "We 
may yet be in training for a brilliant future. The cause, for 
which we struggled four years, may be lost for the present, and 
yet the curtain may have been drawn down only upon one act 
of the drama, and great events may yet be in reserve. The 
battle-scene may again mount the stage ; a great contest does 
not easily end in a span of years; and the war that is not suc- 
ceeded by a solid peace only lays the foundation of another con- 
flict. The character of that struggle, the parties to it — whether 
the war of neighbourhoods will follow the war of sections — these 
are uneasy speculations. The one fact alone is certain, that there 
is no deep sense of pacification in the country, no consciousness 
of real peace, and the meaning of this, the logical, exclusive, 
simple meaning is, another conflict. 

In the first place, we do not believe that after a convulsion 
so vast and profound as the past war, it is historically possible 
for a people to return quietly to the old habit and law of its 
existence. The lesson of human experience is to the contrary ; 
the analogy of Nature is to the contrary. Such convulsions are 
the signals of great changes in history ; they necessarily date 
eras. We believe that it is impossible to compass the commo- 
tion of the late war into the mere decision of certain special 
questions ; that its consequences are not yet spent ; and that the 
prospect of coming quietly back to a common idea and the old 
routine, is the short-sighted vision of the mere politician, and 
not the anticipation of a sound philosophy. 

In the next place, we hold the broad faith that if there was 
really any truth or virtue in the cause of the South, it is bound 
to reassert itself, and to make some second appearance in his- 
tory. If that cause was an errour or crime, we can believe in 
its extinction. But whatever is true and just, constantly renews 
itself; and the law of resurrection is as certain as the fact of 
temporary dissolution. We recollect Mr. Bryant, of the New 
York Evening Post, wrote those noble lines of poetry : 

" Truth, crashed to earth, will rise again; 
The eternal years of God are hers ; 
But errour, wounded, writhes in pain, 
And dies emid her worshippers." 



SOME CONCLUDING EEMARKS, 851 

It is a thrilling picture ; a sweet, solemn eloquence ; a beau- 
tiful faith. 

These are general considerations. "We do not enter the field 
of narrow questions ; we do not attempt details ; we do nothing 
more than maintain that the late war is visibly, necessarily, 
unconcluded, and await the coming time, assured that what Mr. 
Headlej calls " the great clock of destiny " will strike again. 
We speak, as in the mystery of the future. The notes of the 
trumpet may be heard beneath our windows sooner than we 
expect, and the silver-sounding instruments of " Death's cou- 
riers " call us to the field again. In the present situation it may 
be well for us to say but little, and to maintain with regard to 
all parties in the North the Napoleonic attitude of attentive 
neutrality. "We shall not discuss that question. 

We have desired to write on behalf of the past, rather than 
of any new theme of glory. Let the people of the South secure 
its honour ; let them assemble its great names, make their own 
history and Pantheon, and celebrate the deeds of their Chivalry. 
There are Northern politicians who regard the South as nothing 
more than a camp of paroled prisoners, who would give tickets- 
of-leave to our heroes, and put all our history in phrases and 
stereotypes of their own choosing. But in the eyes of the world, 
rem.ember, the felons and traitors of the South are a great and 
conspicuous people, who were simply unfortunate in an arbitra- 
tion of arms. "Wo went down in the struggle, yet covered with 
glory ; we lost on the cast of events, yet winning the recompense 
of honour. 

And what of that assemblage of loved and honoured spirits 
which Northern newspapers term so flippantly " the rebel dead? " 
They are the men wlio in battle forgot that they had ever lieard 
the name of death, and yet died. They are above the clamours 
and accusations of one short generation of men : they are safe 
in Heaven and in History. Neither the shafts of malice, nor the 
weapons of unconquerable death shall ever reach them more ; 
their names are forever safe from the touch of corruption ; and 
their shining tents are pitched on the Campus Martius of eternal 
fame. 



